"Dick!"
"You have to understand that there is a difference between a prince and an emperor!"
Zhu Di explained earnestly.
As early as a few years ago, when the imperial court moved its capital to Beijing, Zhu Di had begun to plan for the Zen throne.
It was just that he told Zhu Gaoxu about the matter at that time, but Zhu Gaoxu refused directly and decisively. For this reason, the father and son were very unhappy.
However, as Zhu Di's body and bones became increasingly weak and his energy and energy were not as good as before, most of the government affairs of the court were left to the emperor's grandson Zhu Zhanhe.
In a sense, Zhu Di is now only the Yongle Emperor in name only.
Rather than continue like this and become an emperor in name only, it is better to abdicate directly and let the Ming Dynasty enter a new era!
After all, he is Zhu Di, an iron-blooded emperor who spent his life in the military. Even if he is old and sick now, he is not willing to be a burden to the Ming Dynasty, let alone hold it back!
This is Zhu Di's deep pride!
"I've thought about this for a long time and read about it for a long time."
Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu with a relaxed expression and said in a deep voice: "Now that you are the prince, your power and status are no different from that of the emperor!"
"The ministers of the court are either your confidants, such as Gu Zuo, the imperial censor of Zuodu, Xie Jin, the minister of the academy, Wang Jing, the minister of the rites, Chen Qia, the minister of the military department, etc., or they are veterans of the auxiliary government who are willing to support your rise, such as Jian, the minister of the official department. Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Household Affairs of Yihe."
"All the officials in the court support you as the crown prince, and among the noble and brave generals in the army, you are the only one who respects you. In the past, only I could defeat the proud and powerful generals like Xue Lu, Liu Sheng, and Chen Mao. I can hold them back, but now that I have you, I feel relieved!"
Zhu Di's words were extremely sincere, but when they fell into Zhu Gaoxu's ears, they made his heart tighten.
What does this old man mean?
Test?
Suspicion?
Are all the civil and military officials of the dynasty my confidants?
Or did he really have the idea of abdicating his position in favor of someone more worthy?
Zhu Gaoxu was a little unsure, and his expression became uncertain.
He couldn't believe everything Zhu Di said now, not even the punctuation!
The older this person gets, the more he is greedy for life and afraid of death, especially an iron-blooded emperor like Zhu Di who wishes he could get the elixir and live a new life.
After all, even the First Emperor of Qin was not exempt from the secular world. Before his death, Xu Fu and others were still thinking about going to sea to find immortals. Who could give up all this?
Once you experience the taste of power, you won't let it go so easily!
Seeing Zhu Gaoxu's solemn expression and his silence, Zhu Di immediately became happy.
"Oh, what's wrong?"
"In the past, was I testing you?"
Zhu Di sneered, "If it weren't for the fact that you are dedicated to serving the country, I would have hanged you up and beaten you, this traitor!"
Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu was also happy.
"It's not that I doubt you, old man."
"I just feel that you are not in the right state today, as if you have a sudden convulsion!"
"You bastard!" Zhu Di glared, "You should be beaten!"
After such an interruption, the gap between father and son was completely eliminated.
Zhu Di sighed and said quietly.
"You also know that dad won't live long."
"I guess I can hold on until Lao San and Zhan Ji come back and see them one last time!"
"Instead of dragging it out like this, it's better to let you take the throne first. Firstly, it will be easier for you to implement the new policy. Secondly, it can completely dissuade some people!"
"Whether it's you, the third child, or even Zhan Ji, dad values you three descendants the most, and I don't want to see you fighting each other over the throne again!"
Having said this, Zhu Di's eyes turned red.
"It was indeed my father who did not do well back then!"
"Looking forward and backward, indecisive. I want your eldest brother to secure his position as the crown prince, but I don't like his indecisive temperament. That's why I kept you in the capital. I want you to be a whetstone for your eldest brother and Zhan Ji, and sharpen it well." Test the tempers of father and son!"
"Besides, you are a child who has made contributions to the Ming Dynasty after all. You have made outstanding contributions in the Battle of Jingnan. You, Zhu Gaoxu, conquered half of the world. But because you are not the eldest son, even if my father is reluctant, he can only hold his nose and register. Your eldest brother is the prince, so dad thought of compensating you more in other ways. It is better to stay with you than to let you go to Yunnan alone and become a feudal lord."
After Zhu Di said these words, his face was filled with sadness.
Obviously, he thought of the former prince Zhu Gaochi again, the son who made him feel at ease the most!
"Your eldest brother is really capable. He is born to be an emperor."
"However, he was born obese and seriously ill. The doctor saw him when he was a child and said that the child would not live to be thirty, so your father and I put our hope in you!"
"Otherwise, why do you think dad said that to you in the first place?"
"Oh, the prince is so ill, you should encourage him!"
Zhu Di seemed to be crying and laughing, and tears fell unconsciously from the corners of his eyes.
"If the boss is like you, in good health, free from illness and disaster, how could I say such things to you?"
"It's all God's will! It's destiny, you can't force it!"
Zhu Gaoxu was silent and sighed as well.
It's really a pity for Big Fatty.
He was born a benevolent emperor, but suffered from illness. Historically, he died young and remained emperor for less than a year.
Because of the unexpected arrival of Zhu Gaoxu, this good brother drove directly to the west, which made people sigh with regret.
"After the establishment of the Yongle Dynasty, I have been hesitant about establishing the crown prince. On the one hand, I have to appoint my eldest son as the crown prince. On the other hand, I feel that I am ashamed of you, so I have been delaying it."
"But you must be aware of the situation at that time. Our family rebelled and usurped the country. The throne was already unstable. There were also a large number of Nanchens in the court who conspired to rebel. Your father and I really had no choice but to establish the boss. This prince, please stabilize people’s hearts for the time being.”
"After all, establishing heirs does not establish virtuous people. The Ming Dynasty cannot follow in the footsteps of Li Tang. Dad has usurped his nephew's kingdom. We can no longer let the descendants of the old Zhu family kill each other and leave this hidden danger. Therefore, Dad can only register Boss, no matter what, we can only make him the prince!"
Zhu Di kept these words in his heart and never mentioned them to anyone.
Only now did he finally speak, partly to apologize to his second son, and partly to remind Zhu Gaoxu that he must abide by the eldest son system!
There were constant palace coups in the Li and Tang dynasties, and there was even a ridiculous scene of a woman proclaiming herself the emperor, Si Chen. This was the root of the disaster that had been laid since the time of Emperor Taizong of the Li and Tang Dynasties!
Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, launched the Xuanwu Gate Revolution, beheaded his eldest son Li Jiancheng, forced Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty to abdicate in favor of a successor, and directly crushed the eldest son succession system to pieces!
After that, Li Shimin also got his due retribution.
Li Shimin gave birth to fourteen sons in his life, three sons died in infancy, nine sons rebelled, but only two sons died well!
This is the retribution he received for destroying the eldest son system!
After all, Li Shimin's throne was obtained through a palace coup, so it naturally fell into the eyes of his sons.
Since my father's throne was snatched away, why can't I do it myself?
Prince Li Chengqian failed to rebel, so he gave his sons a shot in the arm!
The third son, Li Ke, failed to seize the legitimate title, was falsely accused of treason, and was beheaded in public!
The fourth son, Li Tai, failed to win the title of heir, was reduced to a commoner, and died in depression!
The fifth son, Li You, rebelled, was defeated and sentenced to death!
The sixth son, Li Min, failed to win the title of heir, and was exiled to Bazhou, where he later died!
The seventh son, Li Yun, was falsely accused of treason and committed suicide out of fear of guilt!
…
Of the fourteen sons, only two died a good death. This is unmitigated retribution!
Zhu Di was no better than Li Shimin. He only had four sons in his life. The fourth son died in just a few months, leaving only three sons.
Now the eldest brother died of illness a few years ago, leaving only the second and third sons, and the eldest grandson Zhu Zhanji.
Zhu Di was really scared and didn't want to see them killing each other again!
