"Dang...dang...dang..."
The morning bell rings, and in and around the capital in May, whether they are officials, squires, or ordinary people, they all start to get up at this time and start running for life.
It's just that unlike the tired running of ordinary people trying to survive, the running of officials and gentry is a little more heavy.
On the tenth day of May in the thirty-first year of Hongwu, this was the seventh day since Zhu Yuanzhang became seriously ill. The entire five houses and six departments fell into a depressing atmosphere.
In the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army, Li Jinglong, dressed in military attaché uniform, stared at the mountains of memorials in front of him in a daze.
Beside him, a governor-general looked at the memorial in his hand and sighed slightly: "This Dao Gan Meng is really a stubborn bastard, he can actually hold on for so long."
What he was talking about was obviously the ongoing war in the southwest. Li Jinglong came to his senses after hearing this. He looked at him and asked, "How is the war?"
"The Marquis of Xiping sent Governor He Fu and Governor Qu Neng to attack Jinghan Village. The rebels relied on the favorable terrain to hold on high, and the army did not advance further in March."
"The officers and soldiers were running out of food and fodder, but the rebels' morale was high. The two governors had no choice but to ask the Marquis of Xiping for reinforcements."
"It hasn't been captured yet?" Li Jinglong sighed, secretly sighing that there were too many troublesome things during this period.
"My lord, in the palace..." Governor Qian asked cautiously, but Li Jinglong shook his head after listening: "No news is the best news."
"Indeed." Governor Qianshi nodded subconsciously. In the following time, the two of them brought the topic to military affairs.
The rebellion of the Yao Miao in southern Huguang, the defense of Shaanxi Xingdu Division in the northwest, the tug of war with Luchuan in the southwest, and the army patrolling the border in the direction of Daning...
Each of these things sounds like a headache, but this kind of trouble has lasted for thirty-one years.
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, rebellions have never stopped in various places.
After experiencing the chaotic order of the Yuan Dynasty, many people were unwilling to accept the dogmatic order of the Ming Dynasty.
The chieftains did not like that the court was too strict with them, and the landlords and gentry did not like that the Ming Dynasty required them to pay taxes and restricted them.
The Tartar and Semu officials in the north had serious conflicts with the Han officials. In addition, there were many external complicated matters.
Li Jinglong had been dealing with such matters for many years and should have been able to handle them easily, but the news that Zhu Yuanzhang was seriously ill made him panic.
Facing these memorials, he felt very agitated.
Zhu Yuanzhang treated him not only as an emperor, but also as an uncle who took good care of him and cultivated him very much.
He subconsciously didn't want anything to happen to Zhu Yuanzhang, because he knew very well that the ship of the Ming Dynasty had not yet sailed out of the storm, and he, the helmsman, was still needed to maintain stability.
But sometimes, the less people want something, the more they want it.
Rapid footsteps sounded in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. The sound stopped in front of Li Jinglong's Yamen, and Li Jinglong subconsciously raised his head.
The person who came was an eunuch from the inner court, and his face was not good-looking, which gave Li Jinglong a bad feeling in his heart.
He was not the only one who saw the eunuchs of the inner court, but also the other governors of the five palaces, as well as the ministers of the six departments, Wu Yinghua and other great scholars.
After receiving the news, they hurriedly went to the Qianqing Palace Gate from the Five Prefectures, Six Ministries and other palaces.
In just half an hour, they had all gathered in front of the palace gate, nervously looking at the palace door that had not yet been opened.
As they watched, the palace door finally opened slowly, and the eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch who walked out, bowed to everyone.
"Your Majesty has a decree to send you to the Qianqing Palace to nourish your heart."
"I will accept the order..."
Everyone present had a premonition when entering the Qianqing Palace required a 'will' summons.
After returning the greeting, they stood up, lowered their heads, looked at their noses and noses, and walked into the Qianqing Palace Road.
In a matter of seconds, they walked into the Hall of Cultivation of the Heart as they were summoned one after another.
At this time, many people were already standing in the Yangxin Hall.
In addition to the grandson Zhu Yunwen and the crown prince Zhu Gaochi, there were also the eunuch Li Quan in charge of the East Palace, and the two eunuchs Bingbi and Zhangyin, the eunuchs in charge of etiquette.
Of course, the appearance of these people was expected by everyone. The only thing they didn't expect was that a person who shouldn't be here also appeared.
A woman in her thirties, wearing a phoenix crown with nine feathers and four winds, and wearing the regular clothes of the prince and princess appeared here.
The only person who could appear in Qianqing Palace and wear such clothes was Zhu Biao's step-concubine Lu.
"Are you all here..."
"My lord, I pay homage to your majesty. May your majesty be blessed with good health!"
The old voice sounded, and all the ministers knelt down and bowed five times and kowtowed three times.
Stepping on the bed, Zhu Yuanzhang slowly turned his head, looked at more than ten important ministers, and focused on Li Jinglong, Yu Xin, and Qitai.
"Jiujiang, Yu Xin, Qitai, you three come forward, and Yunwen, you come forward too..."
Zhu Yuanzhang called Li Jinglong by his nickname, and addressed the other two by their first names.
"grandfather……"
Zhu Yunwen knelt in front of Babu's bed. Although he had been looking forward to this day for a long time, when he looked at his white-haired and haggard grandfather, he felt too much reluctance in his heart.
He wants power, but he doesn't want his grandfather to leave, but he knows very well that if his grandfather doesn't leave, he will never have real power.
"Cough cough cough!!"
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly coughed violently, until his entire waist became an arc.
Seeing this, Zhu Yunwen quickly stretched out his hand to caress Zhu Yuanzhang's back. After a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang's breathing finally subsided.
He stretched out his bony arm and stroked Zhu Yunwen's head, but his eyes didn't seem to be looking at Zhu Yunwen, but more like reminiscing about something.
He is a workaholic who rarely entertains or rests. He often neglects to discipline the inner court, leaving the important tasks of educating his children and managing his concubines to Queen Ma.
After Empress Ma passed away, he handed over the management of the inner court to Zhu Biao's step-concubine Lu, while he continued to fight on the front line with his son Zhu Biao.
It's a pity that Zhu Biao's sudden death was unexpected by him. He had laid out the game for most of his life, but in the end it failed to come in handy, so he had to set up the next game.
Now, this second game is finally used.
The Ming Dynasty when he took over was a devastated world with refugees everywhere, but now the world he handed over to Zhu Yunwen is a world that extends beyond the Pass in the north, to the South China Sea in the south, to Daqi in the west, and to the East China Sea in the east.
After more than twenty years of cutting and trimming, the world of tomorrow is finally close to the world he imagined.
The entire society is at peace, people's livelihood is restored, and the foundation is stable.
Although the four sides are not very stable, the most important enemy, Mongolia, has been suppressed in a corner of the western desert. The powerful clans in the world who have the strength to challenge the imperial power have been eliminated. The economy has recovered rapidly and the society has become increasingly stable.
In this year, the population of Ming Dynasty was 60.54 million, exceeding the highest population figure of Yuan Dynasty.
In this year, the country's land tax revenue from rice and wheat alone amounted to more than 3,200 shi. Including more than 22 million shi from military grain, the total was more than the Yuan Dynasty's annual income of more than 12 million shi. More than four times.
To later generations, these figures only demonstrated the power of the dynasty, but for Zhu Yuanzhang, the price of these figures was the result of his thirty-one years of non-stop intense work and continuous consumption of health.
Now, he just needed to do one last thing before he could have a good rest.
Thinking of this, his eyes showed relief, and he told Zhu Yunwen in front of the ministers: "Now the world is peaceful and peaceful, you must work diligently in government to preserve the world of our family."
"The affairs in the southwest include Wei Guogong and Xipinghou, the affairs in the northwest include Song Sheng, the affairs in the north include Uncle Qin, and the affairs outside the pass include Gao Xu..."
"I have laid the foundation for everything in this world. You can just continue as usual."
"If you have ambitions in your heart that you want to put into practice, you can listen to your fourth uncle and Duke Cao in the military affairs, and you can listen to Yu Xin and Qi Tai in government affairs."
"As a king and father, you must be able to tolerate advice, have a broad mind, and do not act arbitrarily."
After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, Zhu Yunwen had already burst into tears and nodded with choked sobs: "My grandson, please remember this."
Seeing him like this, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Li Jinglong and the other three who were kneeling in front of the Babu bed. He stretched out his hand towards Li Jinglong, and Li Jinglong quickly knelt forward and held his hand.
"Jiujiang, my uncle is going to see your father. You are very good... and you have lived up to your father's expectations."
"Your Majesty..." Li Jinglong's nose felt sore and he lowered his head and shed tears.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him, then slowly looked at Yu Xin and Qi Tai: "Qi Tai, you draft a will for me..."
"Yes!" Qi Tai lowered his head and agreed, and the eunuch and eunuch beside him also placed the imperial edict and pen and ink he had prepared in front of Qi Tai.
Qitai knelt on the ground and waited quietly for Zhu Yuanzhang to speak.
Looking at the scene in front of him, Zhu Yuanzhang turned his head and looked at the top of the bed: "I have a destiny of thirty-one years. I am worried about dangers and work hard, and I will work hard every day to benefit the people."
"Nai started from humble beginnings. He does not have the profound knowledge of the ancients. He loves good and hates evil. He cannot be far behind."
"Now that we have learned the natural principles of all things, we can understand them with ridicule and sorrow."
"The great grandson of the Emperor Yunwen is benevolent and filial to his friends. The world is at home and he should ascend to the throne."
"Civil and military officials at home and abroad work together to assist the government in order to secure our people."
"No gold or jade should be used for funeral rituals. The Xiaoling Mountains and Rivers should not be altered for their original purpose."
"All the subjects in the world have been crying for three days, and they all surrendered. There is no need to marry."
"When kings come to the country, they should not go to the capital. Those who are not in the order should follow the order..."
In the edict of more than a hundred words, Zhu Yuanzhang explained several things.
The first thing he did was to summarize his journey in the thirty-one years since he ascended the throne, and endorse his platform to the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunwen.
The second thing was to put forward requirements for his own funeral. Not only did he ask for a simple burial, but he also asked his subjects to cry for three days. "
The third thing is to let the vassal kings from all over the country come all the way to the capital to attend the memorial ceremony without having to mobilize troops.
In just over a hundred words, he explained the imperial edict clearly, thinking from beginning to end not to cause too much trouble to the clan and his subjects.
When he finished saying all this, he seemed to feel that his whole body had gained strength, and he actually slowly supported himself to sit up.
When everyone saw this scene, they all bowed their heads and shed tears.
He sat up, took his hand out of Li Jinglong's hand, and looked at the window in the Yangxin Hall with surprise.
"Yunwen, I saw your father and the others..."
Under the sun, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to see his kind-hearted Zhu Biao. Everyone looked at his gaze, but did not see anything.
When they turned around, Zhu Yuanzhang was already lying down again, with a smile on his lips.
"Your Majesty (Grandpa)!!"
Amidst the cries and howls of the crowd, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to feel that his body had become much lighter, and his thoughts were confused for a moment.
When he regained clarity, he seemed to feel that he had arrived in Dongxiang, Zhongli's childhood.
Things around him were very clear, which made him realize that he might be tracing his life back.
When he was young, his parents took him to move many times, but basically, his hometown was always in Dongxiang, Zhongli County.
Now, he was more than a hundred steps away from Dongxiang, and saw many familiar villagers in his eyes.
They did not die from the Yuan court's violent conquests, nor did they die from the swords of the Yuan soldiers and the Red Scarf Army. Each of them was alive, as if they had returned to a day more than sixty years ago.
At this moment, he was anxious. He thought of his own home and his parents, brother and sister in his memory.
He walked towards Dongxiang, but as he approached, Dongxiang gradually became dilapidated.
The scenes around him reminded him of the drought, locust plague, and plague that year.
The villagers he once knew fell down one by one, and he couldn't bear his sorrow, so he saw two familiar figures pulling a cart on their backs.
The two figures had a dirty coarse cloth tied on their heads, and their bodies were as skinny as wood.
On the cart, three corpses without even white cloths lay quietly.
When he saw the three corpses, Zhu Yuanzhang stopped.
Yes, aren't those two figures exactly him and his second brother?
Aren't the three people on the cart his parents and eldest brother?
For a moment, Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned. Even though he did not catch up, the scene in front of him kept moving forward.
He watched himself and his second brother pull a cart, kowtow to people from house to house, and beg to lend them a cemetery to bury their parents and eldest brother.
He and his second brother received countless looks, curses and stones, but they never got a cemetery.
Dragging their bruised bodies, they sat at the entrance of the village, not knowing how they were going to survive.
Seemingly feeling sorry for them, his neighbor Liu Jizu gave them a cemetery.
The two brothers were very happy after receiving the cemetery. They seemed to have forgotten the abuse and humiliation before. They took off their tattered clothes and wrapped the feet and heads of their parents and eldest brother so that their skin would not be exposed.
"Our parents now have a coffin..."
Listening to what his second brother Zhu Chongliu said, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a sore nose when he saw the two brothers burying their parents and eldest brother on the Liu family's land.
In order to survive, they were forced to separate and escape separately.
He went to Huangjue Temple, but within a few years he was driven out due to too many monks and famine, so he had to travel around.
Of course, they say they are wandering, but they are actually just begging for food along the way, and this is how they stay alive.
Later, he received a letter from an old friend, inviting him to join the Red Scarf Army, but he was unwilling and burned the letter.
However, the news eventually leaked out, and he had no choice but to join the Red Scarf Army and became an ordinary soldier in Haozhou City.
After joining the army, because of his bravery in combat and the fact that he had learned some literature and calligraphy at Huangjue Temple, he was quickly appreciated by Guo Zixing and was given the rank of a nine-year-old captain.
However, even though he continued to help Guo Zixing and even helped Guo Zixing repel the invading Yuan army, Guo Zixing always regarded him as a subordinate and he could not go further.
It's just that he doesn't regret it, because he met the person who is best to him.
Although Guo Zixing did not give himself military power or promotion, he married his sister to him.
"Sister..."
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the blurry figure, trying his best to see his sister's facial features clearly, but her facial features were very blurry, as if he was deliberately trying not to see clearly.
He patiently waited for the cloud on his girl's face to clear.
Zhu Yuanzhang still remembered what happened afterwards. Therefore, when Tuotuo led an army of one million yuan to the south and Xuzhou was captured, Peng Da and Zhao Junyong of the Red Scarf Army fled to Haozhou with their remnants and turned against the guests. Guo Zixing became a junior general. There was no expression on his face.
Even when he saw that Sun Deya, who had a grudge against Guo Zixing, deliberately incited Zhao Junyong to use him to arrest Guo Zixing and imprison him in the cellar of his home, he was not sad.
He saw that he foolishly ran back to Haozhou, rescued Guo Zixing, and defeated the 20,000 yuan army that came to attack Haozhou with Guo Zixing, but he received no reward.
He also saw that he returned to his hometown to recruit 700 soldiers and was promoted to governor, but for this empty position, he was forced to hand over the power of 700 soldiers to Guo Zixing, and left in embarrassment with Xu Da, Tang He and more than 20 people. Haozhou.
On the way south, he wanted to return to Haozhou many times, but he kept getting sick and almost died. It was his sister who took care of him and made him gradually recover.
Maybe he didn't deserve to die, or maybe God saw him in pity, so he used the name of the Red Turban Army to appease many people.
There were many dangers during this period, but he resolved them one by one.
Later, he led these 3,000 men to a surprise attack on Hengshan Stream, defeated the Yuan army, surrendered 70,000 men, trained 20,000 men, and captured Chuzhou, a city no less important than Haozhou.
Unlike Guo Zixing who still needs to share Haozhou with Sun Deya, Yu family, Lu family, Pan family and others, Chuzhou is completely his own world.
But he had no time to be happy, because Guo Zixing was pushed out of Haozhou and brought 10,000 remaining soldiers to join him, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had 30,000 soldiers.
Guo Zixing used his official position to pressure him and asked him to hand over 30,000 troops, which he did. However, Guo Zixing, who had 40,000 troops, retreated when faced with the Yuan army's large-scale attack on Gaoyou and divided his troops to attack Liuhe.
Faced with this situation, Zhu Yuanzhang took the initiative to ask Ying to relieve the siege of Liuhe, but after several battles, Liuhe was still captured by the Yuan army.
By the time he returned to Chuzhou, Guo Zixing had taken control of Chuzhou and transferred all Li Shanchang, Xu Da, Tang He and others away from him.
Perhaps at this time, he realized that he and Guo Zixing could not be of the same mind, because Guo Zixing had his own son and could not completely trust him as an outsider.
After that, he changed. He began to know how to keep a low profile and how to guard against others.
He helped Guo Zixing defend Haozhou and repelled the tens of thousands of Yuan troops who invaded.
In order to resolve the conflict, he took the initiative to do something that he had once looked down upon himself. He returned the captured horses to the Yuan army, and successfully transferred the attention of the Yuan army to Zhang Shicheng and others.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his transformation from integrity to tact, and watched all this with an expressionless face. He knew that he would do more things that went against the person he once was.
He watched all this quietly, watching as he took back part of the military power from Guo Zixing, captured He County, and blocked the counterattack of the 30,000 yuan army.
He watched Guo Zixing die of illness, and watched his former self regain the military power that should have belonged to him step by step.
Finally, he was not restricted by anyone, and he began to conquer the world for himself.
He captured Nanjing, repulsed the counterattack of 100,000 Yuan troops, and began to march east and south.
When Zhang Shicheng defected to the Yuan Dynasty and Yang Wanzhe attacked him, he calmly defeated Yang Wanzhe and repelled Zhang Shicheng. At the same time, he worked with Xu Shouhui's Xu Song regime to wipe out the Yuan army in Jiangxi.
When Han Song failed and Chahan was about to go south, he even took the initiative to make friends with Chahan through Yang Wanzhe in order to divert the target.
During that period, it was the most painful time since he started the army. Only his sister could make him feel at ease.
Fortunately, Chahan died and he had no opponent, so he imprisoned and beheaded the envoys sent by the Yuan Dynasty to appease them.
Even if Xu Shouhui was killed and Chen Youliang came on stage to flank him with Zhang Shicheng, he could calmly repel Zhang Shicheng first and then defeat Chen Youliang at Poyang Lake.
He annexed these two opponents step by step, and after solving Zhang Shicheng, he started the Northern Expedition.
After several years of expeditions from east to west, he completely drove the Mongols back to Mobei and captured many territories that had been lost for hundreds of years.
Hexi, Yanyun, Liaodong, Yunnan...
He regained these lost territories and completely destroyed the Yuan Dynasty that fled to Mobei, allowing the Mongols to cut off their imperial title and only dared to hide in the remaining jackals in Moxi.
Looking at his great achievements, there was no emotion on his face.
He met so many people along the way, from Liu Jizu to Guo Zixing, Sun Deya, Zhao Yunyong, Tuotuo, Yang Wanzhe, Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, Mingsheng...
There were his benefactors, enemies, and rivals among this group of people, but he could face them calmly and calmly, except for one person who he could never feel at ease about.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly felt that the scene around him was flowing backwards, and the round-neck robe on his body was also changing.
It watched as the bright yellow round-neck robe slowly turned into a red coarse linen garment. There was something extra on its head, which gave him a headache.
He reached out and grabbed a piece of red coarse cloth headscarf.
At this moment, he seemed to have thought of something, or felt something.
He raised his head and saw a girl wearing silk walking towards him.
The memory became clear at this moment, and the girl's facial features became a little brighter. Zhu Yuanzhang's pupils gradually dilated. He never thought that he could really see her again.
Facing herself, she smiled brightly and slowly took out a piece of corn cake from her arms.
"Chongba, I brought you sesame cakes, they are so delicious..."
On the tenth day of May in the thirty-first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, died at the age of seventy-one.
"Records of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty": Yiyou died in the West Palace. Shang Su is less ill and suffers from illness. When he comes to court to make decisions, he is as tireless as usual. At the beginning of the drama, he burned incense and prayed to the sky, saying: "The longevity is approaching, the country is short and long, the descendants are good or not, but simplicity is in the heart of the emperor, for the sake of livelihood and the happiness of the people."
That is to say, he sent an envoy holding a talisman to summon Taizong to return to the capital. When he arrived at Huai'an, he who used the matter corrected the imperial edict and returned it immediately. Emperor Taizong didn't know it, and he was very ill. He asked him from side to side, "Is the fourth son coming?"
Unable to speak to him, he heard the rain falling and was overjoyed. Then he died and lived to be seventy-one years old. The testament: "The funeral rites should be frugal, without gold and jade, and the mountains and rivers of the Xiaoling Mausoleum should not be changed for this reason. All the subjects in the world will be released within three days of their presence, and there is no need to marry."
(End of chapter)
