First Prince of Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 14 Four years of leisurely

  Spring went to autumn, and something that surprised Xiao Zhu happened. Li’s child was born safely, and he was still a healthy boy. Although he didn’t have a name, he should be the Qin Wang Zhu in history.

  The mother, Ma Shi, showed no sign of pregnancy.

   Or history really began to change!

  Zhu Zhizhi obtained the "Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicle" which records that Qin Wang Zhu Xun and Jin Wang Zhu Xun were born to Concubine Li Shu.

  But this Li family doesn’t seem to be Concubine Li Shu either?

  Xiao Zhu's little head is about to explode, and the historical records of the Ming Dynasty are a bit messy.

  For example, Zhu Di, the later king of Yan, proclaimed himself emperor, and Zhu Di claimed to be the son of Empress Ma, and he was the legitimate son.

  This is based on the record in the "Decree of the King of Yan" that "Gu Yu's bandit talent is the son of his father, Emperor Taizu, Emperor Gao, the son of Empress Xiaoci Gao, the younger brother of the Crown Prince, and the elder of all kings".

  In the late Ming Dynasty, He Qiaoyuan's "Minshu", Tan Qian's "Guoyan", "National History Different Research", Li Qingzhi's "Sanyuan Notes" are all recorded, based on the "Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicles" written by Ming Wang Zongyuan. It is indeed stated in "Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicles" that Zhu Di's mother is Concubine Qi.

  Xiao Zhu has given up thinking, it doesn't matter anymore, anyway, as long as he is born of Queen Ma, it is enough.

  Next to the seventeenth year of Zhengzheng (1357), Geng Bingwen conquered Changxing, Xu Dak conquered Changzhou, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the army to capture Ningguo. Then Zhao Jizu conquered Jiangyin, Xu Dake conquered Changshu, Hu Dahai conquered Huizhou, Chang Yuchun conquered Chizhou, and Miao Daheng conquered Yangzhou.

   Until the nineteenth year of Zhengzheng (1359), Zhu Yuanzhang captured the remaining places in eastern Zhejiang one after another. Chang Yuchun conquered Quzhou and Hu Dahai conquered Chuzhou. So far, Zhu Yuanzhang's troops controlled the left and right parts of Zhejiang, and were adjacent to Chen Youliang's department to the west. In May of that year, King Xiaoming promoted Zhu Yuanzhang to be Prime Minister Zuo of Zhongshu Province in Yitong Sansi, Jiangnan and other places. In the first month of the 21st year (1361), Zhu Yuanzhang was granted the title of Wu Guogong.

   At this time, although Zhu Yuanzhang had 100,000 troops, he still occupied very little territory and was surrounded by enemies.

   To the east and south are the Yuan army, to the southeast is Zhang Shicheng, and to the west is Xu Shouhui. Although they are both anti-Yuan armed forces, Zhang and Xu are hostile to each other with Xiaoming Wang.

  However, the main force of the Red Turban Army led by King Xiao Ming and Liu Futong in the north greatly restrained the Yuan Army, and Zhang Shicheng and Xu Shouhui were not strong enough to annex Zhu Yuanzhang.

   In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang is temporarily facing a good opportunity for development.

   In the 20th year of Zhengzheng (1360), Liu Ji was invited by Zhu Yuanzhang to Yingtian (now Nanjing) and appointed him as a counselor.

  According to the situation at that time, Liu Ji proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang to avoid two-front warfare and defeat each one, which was adopted. After completing the deployment of "building high walls", Zhu Yuanzhang set out to implement "wide accumulation of grain".

  In order to solve the food problem, in addition to mobilizing the people for production, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to implement the method of garrisoning fields, and vigorously carried out army garrisoning fields.

   After a few years, the villages were built everywhere, the government treasury was full, and the army rations were sufficient. In the 20th year of Zhizheng (1360), Zhu Yuanzhang ordered not to collect "zhai grain" to reduce the burden on farmers. In order to accumulate grain, Zhu Yuanzhang explicitly banned alcohol, but Hu Sanshe, the son of his general Hu Dahai, violated the law with others. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Hu Sanshe to be killed after knowing about the profit from brewing wine privately.

   Someone came forward and said that Hu Dahai was attacking Shaoxing at this time, and hoped that Zhu Yuanzhang would let Hu Sanshe go for Hu Dahai's sake. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and resolutely enforced military discipline, so he killed Hu Sanshe himself.

  While winning the hearts and minds of the people, Zhu Yuanzhang continued to recruit talents, especially intellectuals. Zhu Yuanzhang also built a Lixian Hall in Yingtian to receive them.

   These people played an important role in Zhu Yuanzhang's process of unifying the country. Zhu Yuanzhang respected Confucian scholars very much. In the eighteenth year of Zhizheng (1358), he summoned Tang Zhongshi, a Confucian scholar, and asked Emperor Han Gao, Emperor Han Guangwu, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor Taizu of Song, and Emperor Shizu of Yuan Dynasty how to pacify the world. This also shows that Zhu Yuanzhang is determined to create a new dynasty.

  Zhu Yuanzhang established a base centered on Yingtian, with Chen Youliang in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhang Shicheng in the lower reaches, Fang Guozhen in the southeast, and Chen Youding in the south.

  Fang Guozhen and Chen Youding's goal is to protect the land and separate the regime, while Zhang Shicheng has no ambitions for the first two ends of the Yuan Dynasty; Chen Youliang is the strongest, and is the most dangerous enemy Zhu Yuanzhang encountered after he occupied Yingtian.

  Chen Youliang was originally a subordinate of Xu Shouhui's general Ni Wenjun. Later, he killed Ni Wenjun, held Xu Shouhui hostage in the 20th year of Zhizheng (1360), and captured Taiping and Caishi.

  So Chen Youliang thought that Yingtian was at his fingertips, so he killed Xu Shouhui, proclaimed himself emperor in Caishi, the country was named Han, and changed to Yuan Dayi.

  !

  (end of this chapter)