Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1044: Annan Incident
"Hu Jin's speed is so fast?" Zhu Su was a little surprised. Originally, according to his estimation, it would take at least some time for Hu Jin to seize the real power in Annan. If he played it safe, it would take another three to five years. But according to what Zhu said, he actually unified the Annan court in just one or two years, and through the new learning, he had the ability to compete with the Annan Emperor Chen.

"These corrupt officials forget to eat and sleep when they do these things. It's nothing strange." Old Zhu smiled, waved his sleeves, and continued. "Then, this guy began to openly deal with the so-called Chen royal family. Under Hu Jin's purge, only one in ten of the Chen royal family members survived."

Although the Chen royal family was self-proclaimed by Annan, they were more or less representative. When Old Zhu said this, perhaps he was thinking of the fate of the Zhu family's children in the late Ming Dynasty. He felt a bit sad when the rabbit died... no, the fox was angry when the rabbit died. The murderous sneer on the corner of his mouth never faded.

"It's fine if it's the puppet ruler Chen Shunzong, but the so-called Emperor Chen Yizong, didn't he make any moves at all?"

"Allow Hu Jinyao to frame and kill our fellow clansmen?" Zhu Biao also knew the situation in Annan, and said with some disbelief.

"That tyrant? He had a stroke a long time ago!" Old Zhu said with a disdainful laugh. "According to the secret report Jiang Li received from the Jinyiwei, Chen Yizong had suffered a stroke and collapsed a year ago. It is said that he took in several foreign beauties, and one night he had five beauties in one bed, and that night he had a stroke." He said with a tone of gloating.

Hiss! Five good things in one bed, and a foreign girl! The old man is amazing! Zhu Su took a breath of cold air. He had seen Chen Yizong before. Although the old man had no shortage of food, he was still short of the average Annan people, and was not a tall and strong old man. I didn't expect him to have such a broad mind.

If you have a broad mind, you should consider your teeth. Even if your teeth are okay, you should consider your iron rod... Zhu Su felt a little sick when he thought of Chen Yizong's appearance and the five foreign girls. Suddenly, he felt something was wrong. There was no record in history that Chen Yizong had a stroke from playing with foreign girls, and foreigners... No, they should be called foreigners. Annan has never had any contact with foreigners. How could there be foreign women in Chen Yizong's harem? Could it be?
Zhu Su looked at Old Zhu with suspicion.

If we were to ask who was most anxious about the incident in Annan, it would undoubtedly be Zhu Yuanzhang. Because the incident in Annan happened during the reign of Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, which means that it was not Zhu Yuanzhang's turn to take action. But Zhu Yuanzhang always felt that the matter of the county Annan should be handled by him personally when he was in power. He was the founding emperor and had no taboos in doing many things. If the Central Plains officials behaved recklessly in Annan like Zhu Di did, he, as the founding emperor, only needed to kill all those officials as a sacrifice to win back the hearts of the people of Annan.

If it were a later emperor, whether it was Zhu Biao or Zhu Di, their prestige would certainly not be as high as that of Zhu. They would arrest and kill officials wantonly, which would surely cause unrest in the country. At that time, there might be officials who would misinterpret Zhu's "ancestral rules" to hinder the founding emperor.

This is something that civil servants of all dynasties have done a lot of. The ancestral precepts and admonitions left by the founding emperors, etc., often after the founding emperors died, the right to interpret them inexplicably went to the civil service class.

The development of Annan could lay a reserve grain-producing area for the Ming Dynasty in the near term, and in the long term allow the Ming Dynasty to extend its tentacles into the South Seas and firmly control the South Sea sea route, which has immeasurable significance in all aspects. If the sea route cannot be controlled, the Ming Dynasty may not even be able to distinguish between fiefdoms: if it cannot control the land and sea routes, how can it control these fiefdoms in foreign countries?
The feudal states had to rely on the Ming Dynasty to survive. Only by controlling the lifelines of sea and land routes could the Ming Dynasty control the feudal states.

On the other hand, Annan had no contact with the foreign people. Who sent these foreign women to Chen Yizong for a taste? The only and largest foreign trade port in Annan was controlled by the Ming Dynasty, which was Wuqu Port. Even if there were foreign women, they must have been sent in through Wuqu Port. Maybe it was the Jinyiwei who followed orders... Zhu's suspicion became more and more serious.

"Rebellious son, why are you looking at me like that?" Old Zhu saw that his naughty child, who was almost thirty years old but still very naughty on weekdays, was looking at him strangely, so he glared at him and said.

"...No, nothing, Dad, I just remembered that you have many concubines in your harem..." Zhu Su changed the subject. I thought to myself that he is worthy of being the old Zhu, he is much thicker-skinned than me, and he is so confident in what he said.

"...Get out! We are not as good as five people in one bed!" Old Zhu angrily kicked the fifth-ranked rebellious son.

Zhu Biao watched Zhu Su being beaten, holding his forehead in silence for a moment. However, he was somewhat relieved, as it seemed that his father was so happy about the incident in Annan that he didn't care about the dirty things done by Zhu Fu and others.

Otherwise, with my father's temper, he would definitely get angry.

Fortunately, I didn’t hurt myself this time.

"Chen Yizong suffered a stroke, so Hu Jilin's trick of 'holding the emperor hostage to control the princes' became even more handy." Zhu Su wiped away the huge shoe print on his buttocks without leaving a trace, guessing the situation in Annan, and sneered. "No wonder Hu Jilin sped up his actions. Pretending to convey Chen Yizong's order is much more effective than holding Chen Shunzong hostage to issue an order."

"Then what? How did he usurp the throne? Did he let his son pretend to be Chen's nephew?" Zhu Su asked.

"Oh, this time he is much bolder." Old Zhu said. "Fifteen days ago, Hu Jinyi passed on the imperial edict of Chen Yizong, saying that Chen Yizong knew that he didn't have much time left, so he abdicated the throne to him."

"Two days later, Chen Yizong died, and Hu Jilin ascended the throne. In order to avoid the Chen name, the country was renamed 'Yu'." Old Zhu sneered. "The envoy he sent to ask for the title is probably on the way now."

Zhu knew everything that happened in Annan before the 15th. Zhu Su would never believe that Zhu had not been paying attention to Annan during this period. It seems that Zhu had something to do with Chen Yizong's sudden death and giving Hu Jizhen a "super acceleration" to usurp the throne.

The older the ginger, the spicier it is. I am still too young! Zhu Su sighed sincerely.

"So, is the Ming Dynasty about to send troops to retake Annan?" Zhu Biao said with his back straightened. Not only was Zhu happy, but he, as the crown prince, also attached great importance to this matter. If Annan was taken, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty would surely be further enhanced, and this time, it was directly strengthened on the Ming mainland.

If the Ming Dynasty were to go to war, he, as the prince regent, would have to be extremely alert and make good logistical arrangements.

"No hurry. We have already asked Lan Yu to take people to wait near Lianzhou. If Ruan Duofang, the hidden man that Lao Wu had laid out earlier, can find a descendant of the Chen family and send him to Ming, then our Ming will have a reputation of being righteous."

"Besides, we need a general to coordinate the overall situation in the expedition to Annan..." At this point, he changed the subject and looked at Zhu Biao and Zhu Su and said, "You two, why didn't you tell us that Zhu Fu had committed a crime?"

Even an experienced driver would turn around so abruptly. Zhu Su and Zhu Biao were a little slow to react. They looked at each other and pretended to be scolded. "Yes, yes... Father, we are worried about your health..."

"What dragon body or not? I'm not that fragile." Old Zhu waved his hands impatiently, intimidating without being angry. "I also heard that you two brothers had a fight?"

"Boss, that Fan Xianzu is under your cabinet, right?"

"Why, he is so eager to defeat Lao Wu? Is Lao Wu really going to take your position as crown prince?"

"Father, I..." Zhu Biao was about to kneel down to explain when he heard this. Zhu Su reached out and pulled him, then stepped forward and said, "Father, this has nothing to do with my elder brother. It was that guy named Fan who took the wrong medicine and came up to bite me..."

"Fifth brother!" Although he was a little uncomfortable with what Fan Xianzu said, Zhu Biao still frowned because Zhu Su spoke so vulgarly.

"Some time ago, my elder brother and I were discussing to work together to get rid of Zhu Fu. Who knew that Fan Xianzu suddenly appeared and insisted that I was trying to seize the position of the crown prince." Zhu Su sneered. Then he changed the subject and said:
"However, I have indeed been in the spotlight a bit more in recent years. It is understandable that I have caused some people to be wary of me."

"Father, for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, I think you should strip me of some of my authority! Otherwise, people will worry that my elder brother and I will quarrel and harm the Ming Dynasty."

"Fifth brother, you..." Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Su's tired look, and the reprimand he was about to give turned into a shake of his head and a laugh. This fifth brother was also looking for opportunities to reduce his authority and free himself from trouble.

"You're dreaming. Didn't Song Lian say that he wanted your elder brother to be the King of Wu, and you, the King of Zhou, would be the Duke of Zhou for your elder brother?" Old Zhu said with a smile, not showing any anger or fear. "Fan Xianzu is a mature man. A few years ago, we left these mature and conservative people in the cabinet for your elder brother because we thought that the cabinet was the place where the affairs of the world were decided. If it was filled with young people who had learned new things, it would be unsafe."

"But I never expected that Fan Xianzu would place all his ambitions on your elder brother." Old Zhu sneered.

"Ambition?" Zhu Su looked puzzled. "What ambition?"

"With your character, some people even say you want to compete with your elder brother." Old Zhu laughed at Zhu Su wantonly. Then he explained to Zhu Su: "It's nothing more than these conservative thieves who are still unwilling to give up. They look down on our pioneering and enterprising strategy. They want to wait until we die and your elder brother ascends the throne, and then close the door and isolate the country. They think this is the safest way... To put it bluntly, they think your elder brother is honest and kind, and easier to bully than you, so they don't want you to become the crown prince at all costs."

"..." Zhu Su suddenly realized, that's why, no wonder he had never offended Fan Xianzu, but that old man had always been aggressive towards him... It turned out that the ghosts of the conservatives were causing trouble.

"Boss, how are you going to deal with this matter?" Old Zhu looked at Zhu Biao and said.

Zhu Biao smiled, glanced at Zhu Su, and then replied: "As a ruler, one should be tolerant of others' opinions." Then, he blinked innocently and said: "Master Fan is already old and will retire soon. Why should we care?"

"The younger generation in the court will also grow up. By then, the court will be full of new scholars. Even if the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty wants to do something, no one will support it."

Zhu Su said "Oh" and looked at Zhu Biao strangely: what he meant was that Fan Xianzu was an old man and would not live for many more years, and the young ministers who grew up later were all from new schools of thought, so his stale old ideas were destined to fail to make any waves.

In this case, it is better to tolerate him for a few more years and let him shine in his current position until retirement... After all, many important government affairs in the cabinet are not easy to handle without these experienced old men. In a few years, the first batch of new students will grow up and be able to take on important responsibilities in the cabinet.

This is to squeeze out the usefulness of the old learning and then discard it... Zhu Su looked at Zhu Biao and cursed in his heart, "As expected, the people who can regent are evil."

"Good, good, our Biaoer is indeed a wise ruler!" Old Zhu said with satisfaction. "As an emperor, you should not be controlled by your ministers, but should control your ministers."

"Fan Xianzu is a man who is good at handling mundane affairs, but he is short-sighted. We cannot allow him to interfere in the state affairs. It is good that you understand this principle." He then looked at Zhu Su and said, "As for you, you have to use brute force to arrest and deal with a few merchants. It is really embarrassing for us."

"...Dad, I did that to defile myself." Zhu Su said helplessly.

"Wang Jian defiled himself in order to gain the trust of the First Emperor. Your elder brother and I trust you, so why do you need to pour dirty water on yourself?" said Old Zhu.

"This time, we want you to take charge of all matters related to the conquest of Annan. On the surface, we will punish you for the crime of arbitrarily detaining innocent people and forcing them to confess, and ask you to go to Annan to denounce Hu."

"Secretly, we want you to act according to the situation and help our Great Ming army to seize Annan."

"You might be able to do that?"

"Yes. But, retaking Annan will be another great achievement..." Zhu Su hesitated.

It's a feat of destroying a country. When I come back, I don't know if I will be praised to death.

"We've already told you that neither your elder brother nor I are afraid of you. Why are you worrying about it?" Old Zhu frowned and said dissatisfiedly.

Looking at Zhu Su's appearance, he hesitated for a while, and finally sighed heavily, saying: "In this case, when you take Annan back, we will let you go to Fengmingzhou and become the ruler of Xiaoyao... Okay?"

"This... Father?" Zhu Biao was a little shocked.

"No matter what rumors there are in the court, stay away from Fengmingzhou. After three to five years, no one should mention it anymore. So, can you rest assured?" Old Zhu ignored Zhu Biao and said to Zhu Su.

(End of this chapter)