Chapter 91 The Death of the Prince
Different people focus on different things.
It would be false to say that King Yan did not understand the new law and the old law at all. But it is also false to say that King Yan knows too much about the new law and the old law.
Although He Xi continued to promote new ideas, established another sect among Confucianists, and taught many disciples. However, not many of these disciples truly understand the new law and how to interpret political economics and productivity theory.
the reason is simple.
Many people have seen the Confucian approach. and participate in practice. already existing. And the various theories put forward by He Xi are brand new and have never been done before. No matter how He Xi explains and promotes it, it is difficult for people to understand and support something they have never seen.
The same is true for King Yan. King Yan's feelings about the new law and the old law are purely from a practical point of view. He does not think that the new law is necessarily good and the old law is necessarily bad. However, the new law is indeed very useful in many places.
But King Yan's view of the matter in front of him was from the perspective of a ruler, that is, it doesn't matter what I say. What matters is whether the people below listen to you or not.
Whether the people below are obedient or not is more important than what I want to do.
Why does this allusion of referring to a deer as a horse have been passed down through the ages? This is essentially a compliance test.
As a superior, you don't care about being right or not, you only care about being obedient or not?
This is the background of King Yan. As a general, he knows that killing someone with a knife will kill him. The soldiers below must obey the orders of their superiors unconditionally. Those who don't obey will die. As for what mistakes the emperor made and what problems the court had, I'm sorry, it's not something you lowly people can understand.
Those who don’t follow will die.
It's that simple.
The prince looked at King Yan, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond to King Yan's words.
A thought suddenly came to the prince's mind, and he thought to himself: "Perhaps, I am really not suitable to be an emperor."
The thing that the prince lacks the most is also the thing that the king of Yan has the most excess. What the prince lacks most is the courage to act arbitrarily, the courage to swing a knife at anyone, and the courage to smash plates. If you don’t follow my orders, you dare to overthrow everything and start over.
But King Yan lacks this the most. He is a master who dares to swing his sword at anyone when he is in a hurry.
The biggest problem with the prince's character is that he pursues perfection and wants to satisfy everyone. He was recognized by everyone, but he didn't know that the emperor himself was a loner. You can't have both. Perhaps, when the conflicts between the court and the court are relatively minor, they can be prevaricated. This is why the prince can be the king of integrity. But when the conflicts in the court were sharp, almost either/or, and never ending, the prince could not handle it.
Till death? Who to kill? No matter how he moved, there would still be millions of corpses and blood flowing for thousands of miles.
The prince suddenly had a thought in his heart and thought to himself: "Historically, the fourth brother was the emperor. Since this is the case in history, it means that God's will is so. Why should I go against God's will?" The prince suddenly said: "The fourth brother."
King Yan said: "My brother is here."
The prince said: "I have been in poor health these past few years. I don't think my life will last long. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when the country was established and the country was established, how about giving you this reserve position?"
After hearing this, King Yan was almost instantly frightened into a cold sweat. King Yan thought to himself: "Is this the eldest brother of the prince? What a vicious heart."
King Yan originally relaxed his vigilance towards the prince. After all, in King Yan's impression, the prince had always been good. But the prince's words broke the so-called illusion of King Yan.
King Yan knew his status. Among the princes, except for the most prestigious prince, he even had the support of other princes. Regardless of whether King Yan was willing or not, he would probably be the elder of the Ming Dynasty clan in the next few decades. In ordinary families, they are mostly elders who can compete with the clan leader.
This is very dangerous.
This is also the reason why King Yan came to see the prince with such heavy thoughts.
The person in this position last time was none other than someone else. But the King of Qin.
And King Qin is dead.
In King Yan's view, this was the prince's plan to kill him. Yes, this was a deliberate attempt to kill him.
The prince giving up his throne is simply a joke.
This is because Zhu Biao is not an ordinary prince. The prince Zhu Biao, the deputy king of the country, has real power. Almost all the civil officials in his hands are under the prince's command. This relationship cannot be changed just by changing.
If it were not so difficult to change the prince, Zhu Yuanzhang would not hesitate so much.
Since it can't be changed, the prince wants to change it.
That is to praise King Yan high. If nothing else, if today’s words are spread, without the prince taking action, countless Confucian ministers will try their best to impeach King Yan, and even die together with King Yan.
It is true that this is the early Ming Dynasty, and the power of civil servants is not large enough to kill a prince, but it is also very disgusting. If King Yan wants to recruit talents from the Central Plains, he will also be greatly suppressed. The hat of a traitor who was not good at rebellious officials was hung on the head of King Yan.
If the prince had any backup plans, King Yan would not dare to predict his own fate.
King Yan wanted to understand this, he gritted his teeth in his heart, knelt down on the ground without saying a word, and said: "Elder brother said that since ancient times, there has been an order of growth and development, and the younger brother must not dare to have the intention of overstepping. If the elder brother does not believe it, the younger brother will commit suicide here. , to thank the world."
King Yan naturally did not want to die.
But the prince did this and even said so about giving up the reserve position. King Yan naturally wanted to be more ruthless. The words of suicide were spoken. King Yan was sure that the prince would not agree. After all, the death of a King of Qin had already greatly damaged the prince's reputation. If another King of Yan died, the prince would lose his reputation.
And this is what the prince values most.
Little did he know that after hearing what King Yan said, the prince really wanted to let King Yan commit suicide here.
But it's just an idea.
The prince's feelings towards King Yan are very complicated.
If King Yan really harbors evil intentions at this moment and hopes to retain the throne, the prince may really have the intention to kill him. However, the prince has already tested King Yan several times and has decided that King Yan wants to go to Mobei. Even King Yan wants to sweep across the northwest. The prince also knew the heart of building a great empire covering thousands of miles.
After all, the prince really wanted to know something, it was easy. Jin Yiwei's resources are almost completely open to the prince.
But the prince didn't think there was any problem with this ambition. He also thought that it should be the case. After all, even if it were not said that King Yan could become the emperor of the Ming Dynasty in history, just because he was the son of his father, shouldn't he be born with great ambitions? Ambition, big ambition?
Now, the position of prince makes Zhu Biao feel uneasy and restless. Sometimes, he really wants to get out. That sentence just now was a gaffe. But it's true. Because King Zhu Di of Yan is the most promising of all the prince's younger brothers. Also because King Yan Zhu Di is the most promising of all the prince's younger brothers. He is even more famous as Emperor Yongle. He is also the protagonist who is most worried about the recurrence of history.
To a certain extent, deep down in his heart, the prince was not too opposed to giving up the throne to King Yan, but what he was worried about was that King Yan would treat his descendants cruelly. When he thought about the fate of his lineage in history, the prince felt a murderous intention deep in his heart.
But the prince knows better that in the current situation, he has lost his position as prince, and the fate of his lineage will definitely not be good.
This is the binding of power. Eternal power is naturally the best, but if you lose it, sometimes you will lose not only power but also life. This is not irrelevant to the kindness of King Yan to his nephew, even if King Yan intends to lower his attitude towards his nephew. Even if the prince's lineage is punished, the prince's old men will not give up their support for the prince's lineage.
This is why, in the Zhengtong Dynasty, the confinement of common people was lifted. Because at that time, the old Jianwen Party was truly washed away by time.
Yongle in history may have hated Jianwen, but he may not have had much hatred towards the other descendants of the prince, but the reality is so cruel. These are the rules of power.
The prince said with a bit of a wry smile: "Fourth brother, why are you like this? I have lost my words." Then he sternly said to the people around him: "What I said today must not be spread. Otherwise, I will kill you immediately."
The eunuchs around the prince immediately agreed not to mention it.
It seems like this, what happened today can be treated as if it never happened.
