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

Chapter 1083: New Dynasty
When Zhu Yuanzhang announced his abdication at the grand court meeting on the second day of the Lunar New Year, there was a great shock throughout the government and the country.

The high-ranking officials of the court, headed by the six ministers, all expressed their opposition to this. The court meeting was rarely seen in a chaotic situation, and the officials were all panicked. They knelt in the Fengtian Hall and begged Zhu to withdraw his order.

This kind of chaotic scene appeared for the first time during the Hongwu period.

Zhu Yuanzhang ruled for 30 years and transformed China from a dilapidated country after the ravages of the previous Yuan Dynasty into a prosperous country today. His achievements in restoring the country were unprecedented, and the prosperous era he created was comparable to the Han and Tang dynasties. Under his leadership, it can be said that he accomplished the greatest feat in history.

Such an emperor, even though Zhu Yuanzhang was very strict with his subordinates and imposed harsh laws and punishments on officials, he suddenly announced that he wanted to abdicate. Suddenly, many people must have felt at a loss.

Of course, some of them may have felt that Zhu Yuanzhang was testing his ministers. This was manifested in the fact that the government and the people were extremely panicked about this matter and opposed it in unison.

In response to the opposition of the court officials, Zhu Yuanzhang only replied with eight words: "My mind is made up, no need to say more."

But even so, after the court was dismissed, there were still a lot of memorials flying towards Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang kept all of them and did not send them out.

"Your Majesty actually wants to abdicate. This is just creating a stir out of nowhere... Where will the Ming Dynasty go in the future..."

"Oh, that's right. Now that Jiaozhou has just been recovered, the affairs of the court are complicated. If Your Majesty abdicates, I don't know if Your Highness the Crown Prince can suppress the people..."

"I think that since Your Majesty is already old, it would not be a bad idea to pass the throne to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince as soon as possible. After all, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been the regent for many years..."

"Alas, that being said, the prestige of Your Majesty is far from that of the Crown Prince. If Your Majesty abdicates, I am afraid that rumors will spread everywhere and the situation will be unstable. You must know that people's words are scary..."

"Your Majesty is in good health. With Your Majesty in charge, our Ming Dynasty can forge ahead without any worries. But if Your Majesty abdicates, those evil spirits will probably come out. Fortunately, there are no rivals in the four corners of our Ming Dynasty now..."

Such discussions filled the court and the public. Generally speaking, people were afraid of change. Now that the Hongwu Emperor was in power and the Ming Dynasty was thriving, they were also afraid that such a day would suddenly change. In addition, the emperor wanted to abdicate. If they did not persuade him, wouldn't it seem that they were not loyal enough? With all kinds of thoughts mixed together, the voices against Zhu's abdication became extremely strong.

Amidst such opposition, if Zhu Yuanzhang still insisted on abdicating, the court would probably face turmoil as those people had speculated.

But who is Zhu Yuanzhang? Since he had already decided to abdicate, he had naturally made preparations for the next move. A few days later, before the momentum of persuading the emperor to abdicate had subsided, another rumor began to spread among the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty.

"It is said that the cabinet has already drawn up dozens of rewards for enfeoffment, and will divide the world into fiefdoms once the new monarch ascends the throne."

"Really? This idea of ​​dividing the land and enfeoffing borders has been talked about for decades, but the actual amount of territory that has been enfeoffed is not much... Dozens of territories are to be enfeoffed at once? This is no small move..."

"How can His Royal Highness the Crown Prince make such a big move after ascending the throne? I think this matter is groundless."

"Our Ming Dynasty has expanded its territory over the years, and it is more than enough to enfeoff dozens of princes. I think this news is not necessarily nonsense. The new monarch will have a new atmosphere, and it is reasonable to reward the princes."

When the rumor of "dividing the world into fiefdoms" spread, many people in the court and the public were immediately tempted. The Ming Dynasty had promised to divide the world into fiefdoms for decades, but so far, only the Xu family of Weigong, the Li family of Hangong, and several princes of the Zhu family, such as the King of Qin, the King of Jin, the King of Yan, and the King of Zhou, had been granted fiefdoms. For others, this fiefdom was like a big pie hanging in front of a donkey, which they could see but could not eat.

And now, this big pie is actually about to fall into my mouth?
Under the temptation of the "enfeoffment" pie, public opinion at home and abroad began to change, and many people began to stand up and believe that His Majesty's refusal to cling to power and abdicating the throne to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was the real act of the Ming army.

This just shows that the Ming Dynasty is the best in terms of the filial piety of fathers and sons. As for whether the world will be in turmoil... Although Your Majesty has abdicated, can't you still rule the world?

Abdicating early can also better help His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to identify and fill in the gaps, making the succession of the Ming Dynasty throne more stable.

This trend gradually overwhelmed the previous wave of reluctance for Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate, and the change in the trend of the court naturally reached Zhu Yuanzhang's ears.

"This bunch of fence-sitters..." Looking at the secret report handed over by Jinyiwei Jiang Li, Old Zhu looked angry but laughed. "Old Five, take a look at this, 'Duke Song secretly met with two assistant ministers of the Ministry of Personnel at Fuleyuan to influence the trend and support the new emperor to succeed to the throne',"

"There is also this one, 'Gong Changhou wrote a secret letter in his private room to Zhang Shuliang, the Minister of Revenue, in an attempt to smooth over the affairs of the cabinet and seek a place in the feudal system'..."

"Hehe, two days ago he was begging me to continue being the emperor, but as soon as the news of the enfeoffment got out, he was eager for me to pack up and leave..."

There was an inexplicable sourness in his tone.

Zhu Su sat beside him, secretly shocked by the omnipresence of the Jinyiwei under Zhu's command, and said to Zhu with a smile: "Old Zhu, you are really hard to serve."

"You deliberately spread the rumor because you expected that they would change their attitude?"

"Now they have done just as you expected, and you are unhappy again."

"Hmph." Old Zhu snorted lightly and did not comment, but the displeasure on his face faded a little.

Although he has decided to retire while the going is good, Lao Zhu still feels reluctant.

Who in the world would not cling to power? Moreover, the power in Zhu's hands was the imperial power, the first-class and supreme power in the world.

Zhu was naturally power-hungry. If he was not, he would not have planned to completely remove Hu Weiyong, who was the prime minister and took away the imperial power, and finally abolished the prime minister system and replaced it with the cabinet.

But power to him is actually more of a responsibility... He now also wants to see whether Zhu Biao, the successor he has chosen, can truly shoulder this responsibility.

"Forget it." He casually threw the secret reports from the Royal Guards onto the imperial desk. "We won't get involved in these people's little tricks. They only have some shameful calculations anyway."

"Old Fifth, I came to you because I have something to tell you. After I abdicate..." Old Zhu waved to Zhu Su, and Zhu Su came over. Old Zhu whispered a lot in Zhu Su's ear...

……

The rumor fermented for two full months. In these two months, the dry willow branches by the Qinhuai River had sprouted new buds. The government and the public finally reached a conclusion that Emperor Hongwu was going to abdicate in favor of the crown prince.

After all, people are moved by wealth and power. Under the impetus of a group of meritorious officials, the public and the government are inclined to not oppose the emperor's abdication. First, the crown prince has been the crown prince for thirty years. He has never made any mistakes in the past few years and is almost the same as the emperor. Second, when the crown prince ascends to the throne, he will certainly show great favor to his officials. It has now been reported that the means of showing favor is to enfeoff.

For military men, enfeoffment was a great thing. Those who had made great contributions could expect to receive a real fief. For those who had not yet made enough contributions, this precedent would naturally give them more hope in the future. For literati, it also provided a new way out: the number of officials in the Ming Dynasty was close to saturation, and if literati wanted to become officials, they could only take the imperial examination.

But if the imperial court began to divide the land, the scholars who failed the imperial examinations could often seek a position from the military commanders who were given fiefs. There was a shortage of talents in those remote places, let alone these well-educated people, basically anyone who could read and was willing to go to those places could become an official in charge of people.

This has been proven in several existing closed states.

Therefore, under such public opinion, when Emperor Hongwu proposed to abdicate for the second time in the court meeting, the voices of opposition from the court officials were much smaller. After several court discussions, the court and the people basically reached a consensus. After that, the crown prince declined three times. After agreeing, the Ministry of Rites began to prepare for the relevant ceremony, and the court and the people began to get busy.

Three months later, Zhu Yuanzhang held a ceremony to abdicate on Mount Zhongshan. Crown Prince Zhu Biao inherited the throne smoothly and was named "Emperor Yiwen". He worshipped Zhu Yuanzhang as the Supreme Emperor, offered sacrifices to heaven and earth on Mount Zhongshan, and announced it to the world.

At the same time, at the coronation ceremony, the list of Ming Dynasty's fiefs was announced, including the four Dukes of Cao, Song, Zheng, and Liang, as well as several marquises. The generosity was staggering. All the nobles who had made great contributions to the country and were determined to make progress were rewarded. The military class was delighted, and the new dynasty was full of vitality.

At the same time, Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Yiwen also agreed on the foundation of the Ming Dynasty on Mount Zhongshan, which extended to Liaodong in the east, Hami in the west, Jiaozhou in the south, and Mongolia in the north. They also swore an oath with all the vassal states and the people of the world to protect the foundation of China forever. If anyone invaded the foundation of China, the whole world would fight against him.

This covenant, later called the "Zhongshan Alliance", became an iron rule that all Chinese people had to abide by, and was also the first principle of the constitution of the future Ming Dynasty Chinese Empire.

After enfeoffment of the vassal states, Emperor Yiwen issued the first decree of amnesty, and the whole country celebrated. At the same time, the news came that Emperor Hongwu was going to move to Fengyang, the capital. The officials had no doubts, and thought that Emperor Hongwu was going to return home in glory.

This can be said to be the smoothest transfer of power in history. There was no bloodshed and no calculation. The first and second emperors of the Ming Empire set a very good example for future generations.

Of course, in fact, many royal departments, such as the Imperial Guard, still hold the greatest power in the hands of the retired emperor Hongwu. This was the request of Emperor Yiwen Zhu Biao himself. Even though his father had abdicated, he was unwilling to really take away all of his father's power.

If my father wants to travel around the world incognito, he must have a secret army of personal guards to protect him.

Against this background, the procession of Emperor Hongwu Retired to move to Zhongdu was finally about to set off.

(End of this chapter)