Zhu Di: My fourth son is a great emperor of all time?

Chapter 21 All the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty Were Oddballs
Yang Shiqi's expression remained unchanged.

He had long since figured out Zhu Di's inner thoughts.

The so-called ascension of the Han king to the throne as emperor ultimately did not happen; everything can be changed.

Sometimes, he even thought Zhu Di was too naive.

After the death of Emperor Yongle, can you really still decide who will become emperor?
Zhu Di was unaware of Yang Shiqi's thoughts; his attention was entirely focused on the sky.

"The Prince of Han, Zhu Gaochi, was born in the thirteenth year of the Hongwu reign. He was fierce and exceptionally brave, but lacked political wisdom and was unsuitable for governing the country!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Shiqi smiled with satisfaction.

Zhu Di noticed this immediately.

But he has no way to refute it now.

The second son was indeed less capable in governing the country.

But all of these things can be changed.

When the eldest son first took charge of the country, his policies were full of flaws.

The second child has eight years to study.

Zhu Di had made up his mind to have his second son completely put aside military affairs and go to learn how to govern the country from several ministers in the cabinet.

The second son had been afraid of him since childhood and was the most obedient to him. One advantage of his ascension to the throne was that it could prevent the brothers from killing each other.

Nodding slightly, Zhu Di withdrew his gaze and continued looking at the sky.

Although Zhu Di officially took up his fief in Beiping in the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Gaoxu and his eldest son Zhu Gaochi did not go there. Instead, at Zhu Yuanzhang's request, they received Confucian training in Nanjing.

"According to historical records, Zhu Gaochi's frivolous character was exacerbated in the court environment, coupled with the lack of discipline from Zhu Di."

"According to later historical records, after Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne, he informed the historians of what had happened in Nanjing."

“Back then, they were all in Nanjing, but their circumstances were completely different. Grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang loved Zhu Yunwen very much and even did not allow any peers to harm Zhu Yunwen.”

"Zhu Gaoxu originally didn't want to pay attention to Zhu Yunwen, but one day the latter bullied his older brother Zhu Gaochi. At that moment, Zhu Gaoxu went up and gave Zhu Yunwen a good beating. As a result, he was resented by his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang for the rest of his life because of this!"

Zhu Di slowly raised his head, his eyes seemingly burning with fire.

He was with his father-in-law Xu Da in Beiping back then, and he was unaware of what was happening in Nanjing.

However, he had only heard about this from his wife, Xu Miaoyun.

It seems that the second son was hung up and beaten by his father, the Hongwu Emperor, because of this.

"That little bastard Jianwen has been bullying our family since he was a child!"

Zhu Di snorted coldly.

Even if the fourth prince hadn't appeared and changed people's opinions, and everyone still considered the Yongle Emperor a traitor, he would never have regretted it.

Everyone in the world feared Zhu Yuanzhang, even Zhu Di was terrified, but Zhu Gaoxu remained fearless and unwavering, because he had promised his mother to protect his brother in Nanjing.

Zhu Di nodded slightly, a pleased smile on his face.

The second son was very close to the eldest son back then.

Back then, they were still a family.

After ascending the throne, he felt uneasy about the descendants of the Zhu family.

Recently, Zhu Di learned through the Heavenly Canopy that his sons would kill each other in the future, which made him extremely heartbroken.

He thought to himself that if his wife were still alive, his second son wouldn't have rebelled.

After all, he listened to Miaoyun the most.

"Fate is truly the best screenwriter. Let's turn back the clock to the first year of the Jianwen Emperor's reign."

"To be honest, Zhu Gaoxu's life was quite dangerous. After Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne, he became suspicious of his fourth uncle, Zhu Di. Zhu Di's third son, Xu Huizu, succeeded his father, but was plotted against by his own uncle."

"Especially since Zhu Gaochi looked so much like Zhu Di at the time," Xu Huizu (Zhu Yunwen) said, "Zhu Gaochi has the appearance of a wolf, ambitious and greedy. He should be detained in the capital!" "The second son, Zhu Gaochi, was indeed a valiant general by Zhu Di's side. If it weren't for him, Zhu Di might have died long ago, and the Jingnan Campaign would not have succeeded!"

The appearance of the name Xu Huizu instantly turned Zhu Di's face ugly.

Xu Huizu was also his brother who fought alongside him on the battlefield.

He was also Xu Da's son.

Yet this same person almost caused the death of their entire family back then.

If it weren't for Xu Huizu's help during the Jingnan Campaign, Zhu Yunwen would have already captured Nanjing.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, Xu Huizu, like Fang Xiaoru and others, swore to serve Jianwen to the death.

This loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty killed countless people after the founding of the dynasty.

From that time on, people said he was bloodthirsty.

To this day, Zhu Di still cannot understand why Xu Huizu would become his enemy.

Even Xu Huizu was the first to want to deal with their family.

Of course, that's all in the past now, and Xu Huizu is dead.

At this moment, Zhu Di was even more eager to know about the future.

The second brother's actions in the sky deeply moved him.

Indeed, as Tianmu said, the second son fought alongside the army and made many meritorious contributions.

He even saved his own life in the Battle of Baigou River.

His promise to the second prince, "The heir is often ill; you must strive to heal him!" was heartfelt.

However, he was Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, at the time, and later the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

But now, it can be considered that the promise has been fulfilled.

"Second Prince, let me see what the Ming Dynasty will be like after you ascend the throne."

It's truly a strange thing that Zhu Gaochi was able to become emperor.
[Let alone Zhu Gaochi, I feel that every emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely strange. If the emperors of the Han Dynasty were so wise, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were just as bizarre.]
Indeed, the Ming Dynasty had emperors who were carpenters, those who practiced Taoism and alchemy, those who lay down and never attended court, and even those who built the Leopard House. Moreover, the deaths of Ming emperors were all very mysterious.
"What everyone said is true. There are indeed many things about the Ming Dynasty that are hard to explain, but Zhu Gaochi's ascension to the throne was indeed very strange."

"Logically speaking, even if Zhu Di were willing to pass the throne to him, given the personalities of the three Yangs of the cabinet, they would absolutely not assist the second son, and might even forge an imperial edict to allow the eldest son's family to ascend the throne!"

Yang Shiqi had lost his previous composure.

He never imagined that his thoughts would be proven true by later generations.

How is this possible?
He finally realized how terrifying this sky was.

At this moment, Yang Shiqi was so nervous that he didn't even dare to look at Zhu Di.

The palace fell silent.

Zhu Di's face was extremely grim.

Yang Shiqi, that old bastard, has followed me for so many years, I never expected him to harbor such ulterior motives.

Yang Shiqi finally felt relieved when the next sentence from Tianmu appeared.

"But the three Yangs later did not oppose Zhu Gaoxu's ascension to the throne, which was very strange and completely different from their previous behavior. It was clear that the second son, Zhu Gaoxu, was incapable of winning over these three, meaning that someone was helping Zhu Gaoxu behind the scenes."

Is someone helping the second child?

who is it?

Who would help the second son, especially to make him emperor?

After much deliberation, Zhu Di could only think of one person.

Fourth Brother Zhu Gaoshuo!
(End of this chapter)