The video takes us to ancient times; Li Er transforms into the Tongtian Emperor of Shu Han.

"...Your Highness, we were just confused for a moment. Even ordinary people have a chance to turn over a new leaf. Are we not even as good as ordinary people?"

"Back then, the Prime Minister's power was so immense that even His Majesty's eyes and ears were deceived. What could we do if we didn't follow suit?"

"Doesn't Your Highness think that His Majesty has gone a bit too far?"

Some people were unconvinced and spoke up directly.

This statement is practically an admission of his own crimes. After all, given the way Old Zhu investigates, it won't be long before he finds out the truth.

Since the outcome is the same anyway, I might as well seize the opportunity to vent my anger.

Perhaps it could evoke pity in His Highness the Crown Prince, who would say that even if he couldn't save his own life, saving his entire family would be a good thing.

"It seems that most people are self-aware enough to know that speaking out or not speaking out is a capital offense, and they are quite frank."

Zhu Biao turned to look at the person who had spoken.

"But I want to tell you that ordinary people have a chance to turn over a new leaf, simply because if they do anything wrong, they only bring trouble upon themselves."

"But what about you?"

"If you take even the slightest wrong step, it will determine the life or death of countless people."

“You knew all this, you knew that Father Emperor hated those who deceived the emperor and oppressed the people, but you still did it. This has taught me a lesson.”

The more Zhu Biao spoke, the colder his tone became.

"To correct a wrong, one must not go too far; it is better for one family to cry than for a whole road to cry; it is better for all officials to cry than for the common people to cry."

"The more you cry, the more you'll learn what you should and shouldn't do!"

The people outside the canopy: "..."

Most people assumed that a qualified crown prince would offer some advice.

At least it shouldn't involve too many people.

But now it seems that Zhu's crown prince may not be much more benevolent than Zhu himself!

What are you expecting?

"Are you expecting my elder brother to plead for the officials?"

Zhu Di sneered.

After laughing, his gaze towards the sky held a mixture of nostalgia and regret.

If my elder brother hadn't met with an accident, he certainly wouldn't be where he is today.

His initial thought was that his elder brother would become emperor, and he would be responsible for playing the role of the general who conquered the north.

If my elder brother were alive, he would never have even the slightest thought of the throne!

Because as long as the eldest brother is around, he would never let any of his younger brothers suffer any injustice!

I would never be like that scoundrel Zhu Yunwen!

“My eldest brother was raised by my father. Although he doesn’t hate officials as much as my father does, don’t expect him to be merciful either.”

"As the crown prince, he certainly had the ability to advise my father to kill fewer people, but he wouldn't do it."

"If I had to say, the only way for these people to survive was through my mother, the Empress at the time!"

“However, given the magnitude of this case, with the deaths of figures like Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang, my mother naturally wouldn’t get involved with ordinary officials.”

If neither the Crown Prince nor the Empress intervenes, the only remaining question for these officials will be whether their entire families will be executed, their nine generations of relatives will be exterminated, or their three generations of relatives will be wiped out.

"So, those major cases you mentioned earlier, where hundreds of thousands of people died, weren't all family members of officials?"

Although he already had the answer in his heart, Zhao Kuangyin still couldn't help but ask.

"It's obvious that you're asking a question you already know the answer to. Besides family members, there might be nine generations of relatives involved."

"If it weren't for my mother and my elder brother persuading me, perhaps the extermination of ten clans would have already been carried out by my father."

"However, the punishments he devised were also quite cruel, so much so that Zhu Yunwen, that scoundrel, abolished most of them as soon as he ascended the throne."

Zhu Di smiled and said.

In terms of his harsh treatment of officials, no dynasty or emperor throughout history could compare to Zhu Yuanzhang!

"To be honest, Old Zhu is really fierce."

Li Er had lost count of how many times he had uttered this sentiment.

It's not just because it starts with a bowl and ends with the Ming Dynasty, but also because of the methods used to deal with officials.

The principle of "the law does not punish the masses" was applicable to the vast majority of emperors.

If too many officials in the court are involved in a case, the matter will most likely be suppressed, and major issues will be downplayed or even ignored.

Even the imperial censors would never clamor to wipe them all out at this time.

But it seemed that Old Zhu had never heard of these four words before.

He really dared to strip the entire court of its officials, from top to bottom, clean!

"I reckon the most dangerous job during his Hongwu reign was probably being an official, wasn't it?"

“If you do something else and do it poorly, at most you'll only implicate yourself. But if an official makes a mistake, it's the least of his worries—his entire family will be implicated. If it gets a little worse, even nine generations of his family will be reunited.”

Liu Bang sighed.

Who would dare to do that?

If you really want to kill someone, all the court officials will be in danger. They would rather do nothing than make a mistake. What will you do then?

Only Old Zhu would dare to do something like that.

Under Zhu De's rule, doing nothing might also have been wrong.

During his 31-year reign, he launched six large-scale campaigns to crack down on corruption, resulting in the execution of more than 150,000 corrupt officials.

Zhu Yuanzhang never gave up his belief in eliminating all corrupt officials. Even if he failed to do so, he hoped that his descendants would continue his cause of eradicating corruption.

It was precisely because officials were being slaughtered one after another that many political affairs were left unattended, so he took the blame upon himself.

As one of the most diligent emperors in history, he hardly had any real time to rest from the day he ascended the throne until the day he died.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

He came from humble beginnings, having worked as a cowherd, a beggar, and a monk.

Finally, he became emperor.

The most just ruler to have gained power was none other than the Ming Dynasty!

He drove out the Tartars and restored the Central Plains.

The Jiangnan region, lost for a hundred years, the Central Plains for two hundred years, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun for four hundred years, and the Hexi region for six hundred years were all unified and recovered under his rule!

After ascending the throne, he rested with the people.

He revived the customs and traditions of the Central Plains.

He revived the imperial examination system and attached great importance to education.

He spent his entire life fulfilling the wish he had when he was a child.

I hope that the tragedy that happened to my family will never happen again in this world.

Therefore, he never slacked off for even a single day, demanding strict standards of all officials, and even more so of himself.

Unfortunately, the tragedy of a parent outliving their child, Zhu Biao, led to some flaws in the selection of his successor.

Zhu Di: “…”

"That's no minor flaw!"

"If it weren't for my mission to quell the rebellion, my Great Ming might have become a second Qin Dynasty!"

"Who is this good person who has just ascended the throne and is already trying to forcibly reduce the power of the vassal states and restore the Zhou dynasty's rites and laws?"

"If I hadn't rebelled, if I hadn't been ordered to quell the rebellion, the Ming Dynasty would have ceased to exist in a few years at most!"

Zhu Di never hesitated to belittle Zhu Yunwen.

The more incompetent Zhu Yunwen is, the more legitimate his mission of suppressing rebellions will be!

"What's there to argue about? Even if you completely vilify Zhu Yunwen, the history books won't record that you were the heir..."