Chapter 236 In order to reverse the dark history of Emperor Hongwu, King Jin Zhu Gang formulated three plans
Some later historians believe that "Zhu Yuanzhang, who suffered the pain of the death of his relatives one after another, eventually became the biggest 'landlord' in the Ming Dynasty, and civil officials were just 'stewards' in his eyes.

The military commanders became lowly "guards" and the common people became "tenant farmers" who could be harvested at any time."

Of course, some "Ming fans" sympathize with Lao Zhu's experience. "If a modern person had this experience, even if he didn't have a mental illness, he would have suffered from depression a long time ago.

Zhu Yuanzhang was able to live to 70 under these circumstances, which shows that he was very good at managing his mental health problems. "

In fact, in addition to the "Hu Weiyong Case" and the "Empty Seal Case", the "Guo Huan Case" that led to the appearance of capital numbers occurred after the death of Empress Ma.

The "Lan Yu Case", which was recognized by later historians as a wrongful case, was caused by the death of Crown Prince Zhu Biao.

The "Case of the Imperial Consort Ouyang Lun", which caused a sensation in the history of tea-horse trade, occurred in the 30th year of Hongwu in the later years of Zhu Yuanzhang's life.

In a sense, these cases in which Ming Dynasty officials and generals were almost wiped out were Zhu Yuanzhang's special way of relieving his psychological pressure after the death of Empress Ma and Zhu Biao.

It was because of this practice of offending all the civil and military officials that endless amounts of "black material about Zhu Yuanzhang" were passed down to later generations.

In addition to the "hook literature" that is even wilder than unofficial history, there are also rumors that Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate to discredit the Red Turban Army in order to recognize the Yuan Dynasty as orthodox.

Words like "Life in the Yuan Dynasty was very happy", "It is better to starve to death than to die in battle", "We have mistakenly entered the midst of a rebellious army and a mob", and so on, which do not sound like the words of normal people, have been widely circulated by people with ulterior motives.

Some people in later generations even said that Zhu Yuanzhang kicked Mencius out of the list of Confucian saints because he disliked the idea that "the people are more important than the emperor."

In fact, everyone knows that most of the Ming history was compiled by those "pigtails" of the Qing Dynasty, and how much authenticity there is in it is really worth considering!

Ever since traveling back in time and becoming Zhu Yuanzhang's third son, Zhu Gang vowed to change history.

He first rescued Chang Yuchun, who died young, and later, after returning to Beijing after three years in exile, he arrested the culprit in history who was suspected of having successively killed Chang Qingyun, Zhu Biao, Zhu Xiongying, and Empress Ma - the prince's concubine Lu.

Zhu Gang even went so far as to detonate the Hu Weiyong case and the empty seal case in advance, and fabricated the Little Ming King case, which had no record in history.

Risking the destruction of the country's foundation, he simultaneously made enemies with the aristocratic families of Jiangnan and the students of eastern Zhejiang.

The reason why Zhu Gang did so many things was to lead the Ming Dynasty onto a path that had never been imagined.

For this purpose, he also prepared a second plan: to put the yellow robe on his elder brother Zhu Biao and to make his father Zhu Yuanzhang the emperor emeritus in advance.

After all, in history, after the tenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang had already thought about retiring early.

Otherwise, three of the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty would not have been handed over to Zhu Biao, the regent prince, to handle.

If Empress Ma and Zhu Biao had not died too early, Zhu Gang believed that the cases of Guo Huan, Lan Yu and Prince Consort Ouyang Lun would never have implicated so many people.

But Zhu Gang, who was bent on supporting his elder brother to become emperor ahead of time, discovered that Zhu was not in vain for establishing the 276-year-old Ming Dynasty by "starting with a bowl"!

At the moment when the second plan was stillborn, he suddenly understood why Hu Weiyong, Li Shanchang and Lan Yu in history would rather die than rebel.

Because they want to disrupt the "nest" of Zhu Yuanzhang, the greatest emperor of all time, but they are still a little naive!

With nothing else to do, Zhu Gang could only express his willingness to go overseas to join the tribes and contribute to the creation of the future "Ming Dynasty on which the sun never sets". However, no matter where he chose to be the sea base, he had to solve the problem of Japanese pirates that had been plaguing the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why Zhu Gang rushed to the coastal areas for inspection in the name of preventing the "Quanzhou uprising" was to eliminate the threat of Japanese pirates and prepare for restarting the "Maritime Silk Road".

However, he did not expect to meet Hang Siding in Yixing. Considering that more than 300 households were beheaded in history for being forced to harbor the suspect Pan Fu, Zhu Gang began to think of rectifying the administration of Yixing.

On the one hand, it can reduce the number of people implicated in this case, and on the other hand, it can take the opportunity to promote the "Imperial Edicts" system that Zhu Gang promoted more than ten years in advance.

In fact, during the three years of governing the fiefdom of Taiyuan, Zhu Gang had already tested the effectiveness of the "Great Edict".

It has to be said that when it comes to governing clerks, Zhu Yuanzhang's choice of the unprecedented "mass movement" was a very effective measure.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang in the ninth year of Hongwu was obviously not as decisive and ruthless as he was in the eighteenth year of Hongwu.

Perhaps it was the drawbacks brought about by the abolition of the Secretariat and the left and right prime ministers that made Zhu Yuanzhang more aware that the bureaucratic group was the ruling foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

He was worried that a plot like that in "The Secret History of Zhu Yuanzhang" would occur, where "the people rushed into the county government office, arrested the tyrannical and bully magistrate and sent him to the capital", so he did not dare to lift the restrictions on travel permits for those who went to the capital to file complaints.

This led to the situation where Gu Mingjie, a county official from the Yixing Criminal Office, deliberately withheld the "road permits" of Chen Shouliu's younger brother and nephew in order to prevent them from entering the capital to arrest corrupt officials.

In order to bring the culprit to justice, Zhu Gang had to mobilize the three forces of Jinyiwei, Yinlongwei and Shenjiying.

By adopting the method of "luring the snake out of its hole", Pan Fu's followers in Jianping County, Liyang County, Yixing County, Anji County, Changqing County, Gui'an County, Deqing County, and Chongde County were secretly arrested.

At the same time, Zhu Gang returned to Yingtian Prefecture under the pretext of "Chen Shouliu going to Beijing to file a complaint with the emperor" and secretly escorted Gu Mingjie, Yixing Lifang County official Ying Wendong, and former county magistrate Hang Siding to Zhu Yuanzhang for trial.

Zhu Gang originally planned to embark on the journey to Quanzhou again as planned after dealing with the follow-up matters of the "Yixing Case".

Unexpectedly, Zhu's sudden marriage proposal completely disrupted his plans.

The main problem is that the new Minister of Rites, Li Yun, is so annoying!
“I know that the six etiquettes from planning a marriage to completing it are: asking for the bride’s name, asking for the bride’s fortune, asking for the bride’s betrothal gift, asking for the bride’s date, and welcoming the bride.

But didn’t my father already issue an edict stating that all ceremonies were to be handled jointly by the Ministry of Rites and the Director of the Imperial Observatory?

When the time comes, I will personally go to the Duke of Wei's mansion to marry Xu Miaoyun. Before that, don't come here to bother me for anything!"

Now Zhu Gang began to regret it a little and suggested that Lao Zhu cancel the curfew in Yingtian Prefecture.

In the past, apart from the time he attended court, the Minister of Rites might not have had much time to visit the Prince of Jin's Mansion because he had to deal with official business on hand every day.

In order to show how important he is to this wedding, Li Yun sometimes comes in the middle of the night to discuss details with Zhu Gang, the groom-to-be.

"Your Highness, His Majesty has previously promised Duke Wei that he will give Miss Xu the same status as the principal concubine.

In this case, the details of the wedding must be consistent with those of Princess Jin, otherwise it will be easily criticized by people with ulterior motives!"

(End of this chapter)