Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 120: The King of Qin Throws a Tantrum, a Beast and a Rebellious Son [Please Subscribe]

Zhu Chong noticed Zhu Biao's smile and felt something was wrong, so he quickly took the book and started looking at it.

There wasn't much content in the booklet, and Zhu Chong finished reading it quickly, his eyes widening.

Even the hands holding the booklet were shaking with anger.

He raised his head, and cried out in shock, suspicion, and grievance, "Father, Big Brother! My third brother and I have already reached adulthood and been enfeoffed. How could we be treated like this?!"

Zhu Ying was even more furious: "Father, I refuse to accept this!"

As for food and clothing, the two of them didn't care too much, but they grew up surrounded by palace servants and served by them.

After he became a feudal lord, the number of people serving him increased several times, and whenever he spit, a maid would catch it in a spittoon.

Not only are there no servants now, but I also have to boil water, wash clothes, chop wood, fetch water, and find time to farm!
How could these two people, who were used to enjoying themselves, accept this?

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said coldly, "Look at the bad things you have done since you became a vassal. This arrangement of ours is already a light punishment!"

"If you really piss me off, I'll demote you to commoners and let you experience the true suffering of the world!"

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was angry, Zhu Chong and Zhu Xing no longer dared to shout.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the two grown-up sons, and the affection he had felt for them after not seeing them for several years disappeared. He then shouted, "Go back to your house and get used to it. Come to the main hall on time tomorrow to study!"

After the two left the palace together.

Zhu Chong recalled the news about Liu Kuan and said, "Third Brother, this policy of establishing vassal states overseas was most likely proposed by our third brother-in-law Liu Kuan. Even the way our father is training us may have something to do with him."

Although Zhu Xing realized that Zhu Chong intended to use him, he still couldn't help but feel disgusted with Liu Kuan.

He frowned and said, "This person is just a relative by marriage, even comparable to a son-in-law. What qualifications does he have to point fingers at the affairs of our Zhu family?"

Zhu Chong snorted, "Go back and ask about him and you'll understand."

As the sons of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma, although both of them have character flaws, they are not stupid.

Zhu Chong was unhappy with Liu Kuan, but didn't want to take action himself, so he instigated Zhu Xing.

But Zhu Xing was not a reckless man. Even though he disliked Liu Kuan, he guessed Zhu Chong's intention.

So after a few words, the two of them shut up and went back to the palace together - their palaces in the capital were next to each other.

When they reached the gate of the palace, they were stunned for a moment.

I saw palace maids and servants lining up to carry things out of the mansion, and the scene was like a house search.

Seeing that the silk duvet he had slept on at noon had been carried out by two eunuchs, Zhu Chong couldn't help but shout, "How dare you! What are you doing?"

A eunuch came over, smiling but speaking harshly, "Don't blame me, Your Highness, the Prince of Qin. We servants are also acting according to the Emperor's orders."

After saying this, he waved his hand, and a eunuch came over to lead the horse under Zhu Chong's crotch.

Zhu Chong glared, "What are you doing? This is the horse I brought back from Xi'an!"

The eunuch continued to smile and said, "The Emperor said that everything Your Highness has was given by him, so he can naturally take it back. Your Highness, please dismount."

Zhu Chong was furious and said arrogantly, "I won't give up. Let's see what you can do to me!"

The eunuch said, "We servants have orders. If Your Highness disobeys, we will be in trouble."

After he finished speaking, he waved his hand, and immediately more than ten personal soldiers surrounded him.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Chong drew his sword, brandished it, and shouted, "I am the prince! I am the King of Qin! Who dares to touch me?!"

After he made such a fuss, the surrounding personal soldiers really didn't dare to move - although Zhu Yuanzhang had given the order, the man in front of them was really the prince. What would they do if he was injured?
Besides, who in the Ming Dynasty didn’t know that Zhu Yuanzhang protected his own people and doted on the prince?
So the situation just froze.

Seeing this, Zhu Chong felt a little proud and thought to himself: If I can leave one or two good things behind by making a splash, I will just scatter a few more later and see what the old man can do to me, hehe.

On the other side, things were being moved out of Zhu Ying's house, and he was also angry.

But seeing Zhu Chong making a fuss, he did not rush into the mansion, but watched the show from the side.

I thought to myself, if the second brother's fuss is effective, I should also make a fuss, or even make a bigger fuss than him, so that I can maybe make my father revoke his order and continue to live a good life with fine clothes, delicious food, and servants around me.

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royal palace.

Fengxian Hall.

Not long after Zhu Chong and Zhu Xing left, Liu Kuan was summoned.

"See your Majesty, see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Flat body."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After the ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang asked directly: "Liu Kuan, do you know what happened to our second and third sons later?"

Liu Kuan didn't know that the King of Qin and the King of Jin had returned to the capital. He was slightly surprised when Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly asked this.

He then searched his memory and said thoughtfully, "I don't remember much about the Prince of Jin. I only know that he whipped his cook on his way to his fiefdom, for which Your Majesty reprimanded him. Then he died in his prime."

"Died in the prime of life?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao frowned when they heard this.

Especially Lao Zhu.

It’s bad enough that the crown prince died young, but the third prince also died in his prime?

Listening to Liu Kuan's history, Zhu Yuanzhang was not short-lived, so why did his sons die young one after another?
Coming back to his senses, Old Zhu asked, "Do you remember the exact year when the third brother passed away, and why?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. "I really don't remember clearly—he was around forty years old, and died of illness?"

The third child only lived to be forty?

Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but feel grief, because he had already calculated that he would still be alive at that time. He would have to experience the pain of seeing his loved ones die more than once!
Zhu Biao noticed Zhu Yuanzhang's expression and, in order to divert his attention, asked, "What happened to the King of Qin?"

Liu Kuan said, "There are more stories about the King of Qin. According to historical records, the King of Qin favored his second concubine, Deng, and imprisoned his first wife in a separate courtyard, nearly starving her to death."

"Plus, the Prince of Qin and Madam Deng were both cruel, so they often tortured and abused the palace maids for fun in the Prince of Qin's mansion."

"For example, they cut off the palace maids' tongues, buried them in the snow and let them freeze to death, tied them to trees and starved them to death, or burned them to death."

"During his campaign against the Western tribes, he also abducted pregnant women into the palace and tortured them. He also abducted 150 young girls and 150 young boys, and castrated all the boys. However, due to improper castration, many of them died."

"According to the law, the criminals in the Prince of Qin's palace should be taken to the capital to be punished. The Prince of Qin was afraid that these people would report his misdeeds in the palace to Your Majesty, so he sent people to intercept and kill these criminals on the way."

"It was probably in the 28th year of the Hongwu reign. The King of Qin committed so many evil deeds that the servants in the palace became resentful and cautious, and everyone felt insecure. He was then poisoned to death by three old women."

"When His Majesty learned of his actions, he was filled with grief and hatred. He ordered his funeral to be shortened and harshly rebuked him in the memorial, posthumously naming him 'Min'."

After Liu Kuan finished speaking, he found that Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao both had their eyes wide open, with expressions of disbelief.

Obviously, the two were shocked again by what Liu Kuan said about Zhu Chong.

After coming to his senses, Zhu Yuanzhang slammed the imperial desk three times and shouted angrily: "Beast! Beast! What a beast!"

For a moment, I was so angry that I couldn't say anything.

Although Zhu Biao knew Zhu Chong better, he did not expect that Zhu Chong would become so cruel and tyrannical after losing his restraint - he simply did not sound like a human being!

Seeing that Old Zhu was so angry that his face turned red and he was having trouble breathing, Liu Kuan was worried that his high blood pressure would cause a stroke or something, so he hurriedly advised: "Your Majesty, calm down. After all, what I am talking about is about the future. Some things have not yet happened, so there is still room for recovery."

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that his cheeks twitched, but he finally regained the ability to speak.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Save your ass! We should have known long ago that this guy is a beast!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was really angry.

Because he knew that Zhu Chong had done a lot of evil things in the more than three years since he became a vassal.

For example, what Liu Kuan said about the abduction of pregnant women from the Western Regions and the brutal torture of 300 boys and girls from the Western Regions happened around the 12th year of the Hongwu reign.

At that time, the chieftains of Xifan rebelled one after another under the instigation of the Northern Yuan envoys. On the one hand, he sent troops to suppress the rebellion, and on the other hand, he appeased the people of Xifan. It was under such circumstances that Zhu Chong acted cruelly to the people of Xifan. In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, this was not only cruel, but also unwise!
In addition, when Zhu Chong first took over the throne, he forcibly bought gold and silver from the people of Guanzhong at a low price, which caused a conflict and resulted in the killing of an old man outside the palace.

As for torturing palace maids for fun together with Deng, it did happen, but it was not as perverted as Liu Kuan said.

Zhu Chong was his son, and Deng was the legitimate daughter of the deceased founding hero, Duke of Weiguo, Deng Yu.

Although he was angry about what his son and daughter-in-law did, he still had selfish motives and did not make these things public, nor did he punish them. He just reprimanded them with a handwritten letter.

He originally thought that with his authority, this stern reprimand would make the second son wake up and correct himself together with Deng, or at least stop doing such evil things.

Now, after listening to what Liu Kuan said about future events, he realized that this forgiveness not only failed to make Zhu Chong correct his mistakes, but made them even worse.

So in the end, she was poisoned to death by a palace maid!
"It's all my fault! I shouldn't have been soft-hearted and partial!" Zhu Yuanzhang slammed the table again, then asked with red eyes, "After the second son was poisoned to death, what happened to Guanyinnu and Deng?"

Liu Kuan originally didn't want to talk about this, but Zhu Di insisted on asking, so he had no choice but to tell him - Zhu Di's Jingnan Campaign had already been mentioned, so Zhu Chong's little trouble seemed to be nothing.

He then said, "The Qin prince's wife was buried alive with him after his death. As for Deng, she was executed by Your Majesty many years ago."

"Granting death?" Zhu Yuanzhang was again surprised and puzzled. "Why would we grant death to Deng?"

Deng Yu can be said to be a very important founding hero of the Ming Dynasty. When he went to Chuzhou in his early years, Deng Yu led more than 10,000 troops to surrender upon hearing the news.

After that, he fought in many battles, both on horseback and on foot, and made countless great contributions.

In the tenth year of Hongwu, the remnant Yuan forces of Tibet plundered the envoys from U-Tsang who were paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty. He then appointed Deng Yu as the General of the Western Expedition and led Mu Ying and others to fight against the remnant Yuan forces of Tibet.

In this battle, the Ming army advanced in three directions, defeated the enemy troops one after another, chased the enemy to Kunlun Mountain, and returned with a great victory!

This battle not only shocked the Western Barbarian tribes, but also enhanced the military power of the Ming Dynasty in the Western Regions, and even shocked the Eastern Chagatai Khanate!

Unfortunately, Deng Yu fell seriously ill on his way back and died before reaching the capital.

The mother of his legitimate daughter, Deng, died early, and Deng Yu never remarried (he had concubines, but not a principal wife). In addition, he was often away from home fighting on military campaigns, which made Deng develop a savage and cruel character.

When Deng Yu died, Deng was still unmarried. Considering Deng Yu's hard work and great achievements, he decided to marry Deng to Zhu Chong as his second concubine, and also asked Zhu Chong to treat her well.

Now it seems that the two of them are of the same bad character and have become even more evil.

But even though he knew the cruel things Deng had done, he didn't punish Deng Yu much because of his merits. So why did he sentence him to death in the end?
Liu Kuan glanced at Zhu Biao and said, "Historical records show that the King of Qin once sent someone to make clothes for the Queen to wear, and also placed a five-clawed dragon bed in his room."

"When Your Majesty learned of this, he reprimanded the King of Qin for his 'presumptuous and disrespectful conduct, a crime of the greatest magnitude,' and, believing that Deng must have been the cause of this, ordered him to be executed."

boom!
Old Zhu slammed the table again.

My hands are sore from clapping, but I'm still angry.

"This second son is not only a beast, but also a rebellious son!"

After swearing through gritted teeth, Zhu Yuanzhang found that he was not as angry as before - it seemed that he was extremely disappointed with his second son.

At this time, the eunuch outside the palace shouted: "Your Majesty, Eunuch Wang, who went to the Qin Palace on business, sent someone to deliver an urgent report!"

Although it was an urgent report, Zhu Yuanzhang remained calm and said, "Let him in!"

A eunuch entered the hall, knelt, and said, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin danced with a sword on his horse and refused to allow us to confiscate his mount."

"Eunuch Wang and his men were afraid of injuring His Highness the Prince of Qin, so they didn't dare to force their way in. They sent this servant back to the palace to ask for instructions on whether to keep the horse."

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent for three breaths with an expressionless face, as if he was thinking about something.

Just when the young eunuch was about to lose the pressure, he said calmly, "Pass on my order and allow the King of Qin to come to the palace for an audience."

The young eunuch breathed a sigh of relief and replied, "As you wish."

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)