As spring passed and autumn came, something surprising happened to Xiao Zhu. Li's child was born safely, and he was still a healthy boy. Although he didn't have a name, he must be the Qin King Zhu Ping in history.
But the mother, Ma, showed no signs of pregnancy. This is really puzzling. Could it be that I remembered it wrong, or there was something wrong with the historical records?
Or has history really begun to change!
Zhu Miao's "Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicles" records that Qin King Zhu Cang and Jin King Zhu Fan were born to Concubine Li Shu.
But this Mrs. Li doesn’t seem to be Concubine Li Shu, is she?
Xiao Zhu's little head almost exploded. The historical records of the Ming Dynasty were a bit messy.
For example, when Zhu Di, the later King of Yan, proclaimed himself emperor, he claimed to be the legitimate son of Empress Ma.
This is based on the record in the "Edict of the King of Yan" that "Gu Yu, a bandit, is the biological son of his father, Emperor Taizu, Emperor Gao, the biological son of Empress Xiao Cigao, the biological brother of the crown prince, and the leader of all kings."
In the late Ming Dynasty, He Qiaoyuan's "Fujian Book", Tan Qian's "Guoyan", "National History Yi Kao", and Li Qingzhi's "Sanyuan Notes" are all recorded, based on the "Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicles" written by Wang Zongyuan of the Ming Dynasty. "Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicles" indeed states that Zhu Di's mother was Concubine Ji.
Xiao Zhu had given up thinking, it didn't matter, as long as he was born to Queen Ma, it was enough!
In the next seventeenth year of Zhizheng (1357), Geng Bingwen conquered Changxing, Xu Da conquered Changzhou, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally led his army to attack Ningguo. Later, Zhao Jizuzuke defeated Jiangyin and Xu Dake defeated Changshu. Hu Dahai defeated Huizhou, Chang Yuchun defeated Chizhou, and Miao Daheng defeated Yangzhou.
In the 19th year of Zhengzheng (1359), Zhu Yuanzhang successively captured the remaining places in eastern Zhejiang, often encountering Chunke Quzhou and Hudaike Chuzhou. At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang's department controlled all places on the left and right of Zhejiang, and was adjacent to Chen Youliang's department to the west. In May of that year, King Xiaoming promoted Zhu Yuanzhang to the title of Prime Minister Zuo of the Third Division of Yitong, Jiangnan and other places. In the first month of the 21st year of Zhengzheng (1361), he was granted the title of Duke of Wu.
At this time, although Zhu Yuanzhang had 100,000 troops, he still occupied very little territory and was surrounded by enemies on all sides.
To the east and south were the Yuan troops, to the southeast were Zhang Shicheng, and to the west were Xu Shouhui. Although they were both anti-Yuan armed forces, Zhang and Xu and King Xiao Ming were hostile to each other.
However, the main force of the Red Scarf 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 development opportunity.
In the 20th year of Zhizheng (1360), Liu Ji was invited to Yingtian (today's Nanjing) by Zhu Yuanzhang and appointed him as an adviser.
In view of the situation at that time, Liu Ji proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang the strategy of avoiding two-front battles and defeating them one by one, which was adopted. After completing the deployment of "building a high wall", Zhu Yuanzhang began to implement "expanding grain accumulation".
In order to solve the food problem, in addition to mobilizing the people for production, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to implement the farming law and vigorously carry out military farming. He appointed Marshal Kang Maocai as the Dushui Camp, responsible for building water conservancy, and assigned generals to cultivate and cultivate fields in various places.
In a few years, villages were built everywhere, the treasury was full, and the army was plentiful. In the 20th year of Zhizheng (1360), Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that "village grain" should no longer be collected to reduce the burden on farmers. In order to accumulate food, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a ban on alcohol. However, Hu Sanshe, the son of his general Hu Dahai, violated the ban with others and made money by making wine privately. When Zhu Yuanzhang found out, he ordered Hu Sanshe to be killed.
Someone came forward to advise that Hu Dahai was attacking Shaoxing at this time, hoping that Zhu Yuanzhang would let Hu Sanshe go for Hu Dahai's sake. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and insisted on strict military discipline, so he killed Hu Sanshe himself.
While winning the hearts and minds of the people, Zhu Yuanzhang also 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 unification of the country. Zhu Yuanzhang respected Confucian scholars very much. In the 18th year of Zhizheng (1358), he summoned the Confucian scholar Tang Zhongshi and asked Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, and Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty about how to pacify the world. This also showed that Zhu Yuanzhang was determined to create a world. 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 was to protect the territory and separate the regime, while Zhang Shicheng did not have much ambition towards the two ends of the Yuan Dynasty; Chen Youliang was the strongest and was 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, and in the 20th year of Zhizheng (1360), he kidnapped Xu Shouhui and captured Taiping and Quishi.
So Chen Youliang thought that Yingtian could be easily obtained, so he killed Xu Shouhui, proclaimed himself emperor in Caishi, named the country Han, and changed the name of Yuan Dynasty.
