Ming Dynasty Simulator: I will be the greatest emperor of all time!

These days, rumors are spreading in Yingtian Prefecture that the Emperor is summoning the Prince of Yan to the palace every day, intending to depose the Crown Prince and pass the throne to the Prince of Yan, Zhu Di.

The civil and military officials in the court frowned at this, while some of the princes remained silent, and a few were happy for Zhu Di.

Zhu Di himself was very worried because this rumor had put him in the spotlight.

If he wants to seize the throne, no one can figure out the emperor's attitude right now. If he does this, he might anger the emperor. If he doesn't want to seize the throne, he should make a statement and even take the initiative to ask to weaken his Yan territory.

This put him in a dilemma.

"What a ruthless scheme." Zhu Di understood that the rumor probably originated from the Eastern Palace.

"But... the Crown Prince has even started using the old man; isn't that a bit too audacious?"

"No, the old man doesn't have many years left to live. I need to try to find out his intentions as soon as possible. If he's thinking of Xiao Gaoxi, no, if he's really thinking of me, then I'll stay in Yingtian Prefecture and try to find a way to become the crown prince."

"If that's not the case, I need to leave Kyoto, this place of trouble, as soon as possible and return to Yan to prepare for the future."

Zhu Gaoxi, who was also aware of the rumors, scratched his head.

Zhu Gaoxi thought to himself, "I have a feeling that history has gone astray. I don't know if this is a blessing or a curse for my lineage as the Prince of Yan."

……

The Eastern Palace.

The grandson Zhu Yunwen and his mother, Lady Lü, held a secret meeting, and Zhu Yunwen was somewhat puzzled by Lady Lü's actions.

"Mother, such rumors can't affect Fourth Uncle at all, can they? Grandfather won't take action against Fourth Uncle because of such rumors, and I don't think Fourth Uncle poses much of a threat to the throne."

"That's true..."

Lady Lü gracefully picked up her teacup and took a small sip:

"What is it?"

Zhu Yunwen finally mustered the courage to voice his concerns, even though he found them quite absurd:

"But Gao Xidi, who is only four years old, I feel is a greater threat to me."

"Ever since Grandpa fell into a coma, he has become especially close to Fourth Uncle's lineage after seeing Gao Xidi crying."

Lady Lü sneered:

"My good son, how come your mother can't think of these things?"

"There were many people present that day, and almost all the civil and military officials knew that His Majesty had begun to be particularly close to the Prince of Yan because of that little brat Zhu Gaoxi."

"This time, spreading rumors is a pretext to target your fourth uncle, but the real purpose is to target that little brat Zhu Gaoxi."

"Do you think there might be ministers who, for the sake of the so-called relationship between ruler and subject, or for their own interests tied to our Crown Prince, would choose to take the risk and poison Zhu Gaoxi? There are quite a few ministers who have staked the lives of their entire clans on us. If you don't become emperor, they will die anyway."

"The Prince of Yan's lineage is inferior to that of the Crown Prince. We can secretly kill Zhu Xiong Ying without anyone noticing... but we can't do that with Zhu Gao Xi. We must use someone else's hand."

Zhu Yunwen suddenly realized:

"Mother, you're still the best when it comes to palace intrigue and power struggles."

……

In the following days, Zhu Di did not receive an audience with Zhu Yuanzhang, and instead took Zhu Gaoxi with him and ran to the palace.

Zhu Di wanted to see if his actions, which were somewhat ingratiating to the old man and aimed at securing the position of crown prince, would earn him a reprimand from the old man.

Therefore, Zhu Di was prepared to be severely scolded by his father.

To his surprise, the old man didn't react at all to his daily visits to the palace, remaining as usual.

But the old man didn't say a single ambiguous thing like "the throne should be given to the fourth son".

This left Zhu Di somewhat bewildered, unsure of what the old man was thinking.

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally saw through Zhu Di's little schemes and actions.

Zhu Yuanzhang was aware of the rumor circulating in Yingtian Prefecture, but he did not allow the Embroidered Uniform Guard to dispel it. Knowing that his fourth son would become emperor, what could he do besides sighing at his grandson Zhu Yunwen?

Unless he personally targets and suppresses Zhu Di.

Firstly, the two are father and son, and Zhu Yuanzhang values ​​family ties extremely. His fourth son has not made any mistakes, so how could he do something like suppressing his own son? Secondly, the Ming Dynasty is currently facing a shortage of military generals, and the fourth son is already the mainstay of the army. The Ming Dynasty needs the fourth son to resist the barbarians, so the fourth son cannot be touched.

So now that the fourth son has become powerful, even Zhu Yuanzhang can't bring himself to harm his own son.

"Let's first see what Yunwen has been doing. If all else fails, we need to find a way out for our good grandson and choose a good future for him."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the memorials on the imperial table that Zhu Yunwen had reviewed on his behalf. The handwriting was rather delicate. Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't think much of it, but now, seeing the delicate handwriting, he sighed slightly.

After waiting a while, the simulator finally cooled down, and Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't wait to open it.

This time, to his surprise, the simulator was no longer a cold string of text, but was accompanied by animation. In the animation, he could see living figures such as Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Di.

"This portrait is so realistic; this is indeed an object of the immortals, bestowed upon our Great Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang always believed that the simulator was a gift from heaven.

[This simulation has begun. Since you made changes to reality after your last simulation, this simulation will not be carried over; you will need to start a new one.]

Zhu Yuanzhang: ? ? ?

What? We haven't interfered with reality at all in order to obtain an accurate record of the past. What do you mean we've changed reality? Simulator, if you don't explain this to me clearly, I'm not done with you!

To Zhu Yuanzhang's surprise, the simulator patiently explained things to him.

After the last simulation ended, rumors circulated in Yingtian Prefecture that "the emperor wanted to replace the emperor with the Prince of Yan." You did not clarify this, and this statement later changed reality.

Zhu Yuanzhang: Huh?

Zhu Yuanzhang scratched his head vigorously, looking extremely shocked.

His failure to clarify this matter can be considered interference in reality?

"So, what changed if we didn't clarify this matter?"

[Unable to provide details, please explore on your own!]

The objects that can be simulated in this instance are listed below.

【1. Crown Prince Zhu Yunwen】

(①. Zhu Yunwen, the grandson of the emperor)

(②. Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen)

(③. Monk Zhu Yunwen)

【2. Zhu Di, Prince of Yan】

(①: Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan during the Hongwu reign)

(②: Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who fought against the enemy)

(③: Emperor Zhu Di)

(④: Emperor Taizong Zhu Di)

(⑤: Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di)

This time, the simulator can only simulate two characters; the previous character, Prince Zhu Gang of Jin, has been removed from the simulator.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the ">" next to the simulator meant to expand.

He discovered the various periods of Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Di by clicking on the "》" button.

Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang intended to simulate how Zhu Yunwen, after becoming emperor, couldn't defeat his fourth son.

But this time the simulator claimed that it had changed reality, so Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to see exactly what reality it had changed.

"Since the rumors say that we are going to pass the throne to the fourth son, then any changes in reality must be related to the fourth son."

"In this simulation, the fourth prince still rebelled, which shows that even after this rumor appeared, we still did not make the fourth prince the crown prince."

"In that case, let's take a look at the life of this so-called [Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan who brought peace to the country]."