Zhu Yuanzhang knew very well that if he died, his eldest grandson would surely succeed to the throne.
But since ancient times, many people have been unable to resist the temptation of the throne, even if these people are his sons.
Sometimes they know that the chance of success is very slim, but many people are like moths flying to the flame, willing to take a gamble and even pay their own lives for it.
There were countless such things in the past dynasties, but Zhu Yuanzhang knew very well that his sons had absolutely no chance of success.
In the palace, after many manipulations by Da Sun, the veterans retired and were replaced by students from the military academy. The palace that was once controlled by Zhu Yuanzhang is now in Da Sun's hands.
If the eldest grandson wants to be the emperor, not even he himself can stop him, let alone his sons.
Zhu Yuanzhang just didn't want to see things like uncles and nephews fighting each other. What he was worried about was not his eldest grandson, but his sons.
No one knows if any vassal king would do something like this just because his brain was cramped.
This illness actually had a huge impact on Zhu Yuanzhang. Even though it only took more than a month, he seemed to have completely recovered.
However, as you get older, what you are most afraid of is getting sick. At this time, you are no longer in a good recovery state like young people, which has a great impact on your body's vitality.
It can be clearly seen that Zhu Yuanzhang, who was originally somewhat tough, seems to be a little more rickety and senile.
Once in the back garden, when Zhu Yuanzhang was playing with little Wen Cheng, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to pick up little Wen Cheng as usual.
But suddenly I found that I couldn't hold it anymore.
Zhu Yuanzhang was a little dazed. He remembered that he had hugged Xiao Wen Cheng during the Chinese New Year. Why could he not be able to hold him anymore after only a few months?
After a long time, he realized what he was doing and said with a wry smile: "We are getting old, we are getting old."
"Yes, in this world, everyone will grow old."
Liu He, who was waiting next to him, said quickly: "Your Majesty is in good health, but his vitality was damaged in the past few days. He only needs to cultivate for a period of time and he will be fine."
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, interrupting Liu He's flattery.
"We are all at this age. It's no longer enough to refuse to accept old age. No matter what, that's it."
At this time, the sun is shining brightly, everything is growing, and the back garden is full of vitality with the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers.
However, standing here, Zhu Yuanzhang could already feel the twilight energy.
His rickety body looked a little out of place.
At this time, Ming Dynasty's first fleet to the American continent had already set off, loaded with soldiers, cattle, sheep, horses, and firearms.
The development of the American continent will take a hundred years ahead of time, and the developers have also changed from Europe to Asia.
Compared with Europe, DaMing obviously has stronger strength in developing the New World.
In the 17th century, England colonized the Americas with only a few people. At first, it was only a small team of a hundred people, and then a small town called Jamestown was established.
During this period, England, where the sun never set, had a total population of only about 6 million.
As for the Ming Dynasty Expeditionary Force, there were 50,000 people who walked through in the first wave, and more than 46,000 people successfully arrived.
Now, the Ming Dynasty has sent another fleet with over ten thousand soldiers and thousands of cattle, sheep and horses. Such intensity cannot be matched by a small place like Europe.
When England colonized, they needed to massacre the native Indians because their numbers were too small. They had to find ways to reduce the number of natives in order to ensure their own security and colonial needs.
The Ming Dynasty did not need to be like this. An army of tens of thousands of people could be said to be walking sideways in the American continent.
These indigenous people have never even seen cavalry. Although the Mayan civilization has many mysterious cultures, the current Mayan civilization is still a stone civilization. The Mayans did not use bronze tools, let alone iron tools.
Although they had relatively good construction technology, the Mayans did not use copper, iron, or wheeled vehicles. Although the concept of wheels appeared in pottery and other cultural relics, it was not practical in real life.
Agriculture uses corn as the staple food, so it is also called the "corn civilization". There are no cattle, horses, pigs and sheep, and there are no traces of animal husbandry. The farmers use an extremely primitive milpa farming method.
The Maya did not have a unified concept, but a city-state system, and the lords of the city-state controlled their own tribes.
Ming Dynasty's attack on Maya was simply to beat the primitive people, which was easier than Lan Yu's attack on Tianzhu.
When the Ming Dynasty fleet was sailing towards the American continent, Lan Yu's eldest son Lan Taiping had already led the army to become the overlord of a large area.
That year, after passing through the cold northern region, with the arrival of spring and summer, the northern part of America also began to recover.
Lan Taiping led an army of more than 40,000 people and also encountered Indian tribes.
The Indians holding bows and arrows were a complete joke in front of the Ming army's armor.
The tribes with thousands of people did not pose any threat to the Ming army in terms of numbers.
Facing the powerful Ming army, this tribe did not even have the courage to resist, and directly chose to surrender.
Although there is a language barrier, some simple communication is still possible.
As the Ming army continued to explore, they gradually learned a lot about where they were.
The combat effectiveness of the indigenous people here is extremely low. A Ming army of a thousand people can basically move sideways in most areas. Even an Indian tribe of ten thousand people can just chop melons and vegetables.
In fact, at this time, the number of Indians is still very high, about 80 million people. This is related to the fertile soil in the Americas and high-yielding crops such as corn and sweet potatoes.
Corn is very popular here. Because there is no relationship with livestock, it is used as rations. Therefore, the Mayan civilization is also called the corn civilization.
Although the population is close to that of the Ming Dynasty, the entire American continent is too big. The combined land area of South America and North America is already about the same size as the entire Asian continent.
Even the North American continent is equivalent to half of the Asian continent.
As a result, the Indians, who seem to have a population of 80 million, are actually unable to exist in large-scale tribes after they are distributed on the American continent.
A tribe of ten thousand people is already very large in the eyes of Indians. Even the most powerful Mayan kingdom in Indian history had a population of only about five million at its peak.
Not to mention that the Mayan Kingdom has long been fragmented.
So Lan Taiping simply dispersed the expeditionary force.
The scale of more than 40,000 people is too large. It would be a waste of time and troublesome to push these indigenous tribes one by one.
In addition to his own army, Lan Taiping divided into thirty thousand-man teams to integrate the surrounding indigenous tribes.
The main weapons of these indigenous tribes are wooden clubs, stone axes, javelins, spears, bows and arrows and slingshots.
The Ming army wore armor, long swords, and matchlock guns.
If you want to ask how the Ming army felt about fighting the natives, it was simply easier than suppressing the people.
It only took one charge for the indigenous tribes to collapse. They couldn't even be called an army.
The only problem that restricted Lan Taiping was that he didn't have a war horse, so he had to walk on two feet, which was really uncomfortable.
Therefore, Lan Taiping sent Wang Tianlu and others back to the Ming Dynasty to ask for support.
——
Samarkand.
In Timur's eyes, the Ottoman Empire was already within his reach.
But a piece of news came that Ming's army had actually entered the Tianzhu area.
This made Timur feel threatened.
Because he knew very well that with the help of those countries in Tianzhu, it was impossible to stop the Ming army.
This is also true. According to the information in the intelligence, the Ming army easily occupied a large area of Tianzhu without even suffering much losses.
In Timur's plan, while taking over the Ottoman Empire, he also wanted to increase the number of troops in the Delhi Sultanate, and then include the entire Tianzhu region into his own territory.
In Timur's eyes, wealthy Tianzhu could provide him with more food and allow him to train a larger army.
Previously, due to the relationship with the Delhi Sultanate, they had not been able to enter the wealthy areas in southern Tianzhu.
Now that the Delhi Sultanate has been occupied by him, and the Ottoman Empire is no longer a threat, it is natural to rule over the rich southern part of India.
However, Daming was one step ahead of him.
"Your Majesty the Sultan, compared to the vulnerable Turks, the Ming Dynasty is our biggest enemy. If they are allowed to occupy Tianzhu, it will be difficult for the Sudan area in Delhi to form effective resistance to the Ming Dynasty."
"If we lose the Delhi Sultanate, then the Ming Dynasty's army can directly invade our land."
"I think that at this time, the troops that went to the Ottomans should be transferred back to the Delhi Sultanate to fight against the Ming Dynasty on the territory of the Tianzhu people."
This statement was recognized by many ministers under Timur. Because of the successive failures of the grasslands and Tubo, they had a great fear of the Ming Dynasty.
You must know that since Timur rose from Samarkand, his army has almost never suffered a defeat. Enemies on all sides have been constantly defeated, and a large amount of territory has been owned by Samarkand.
Only in dealing with the Ming Dynasty, the Timur Empire army not only failed to gain any benefits, but also caused a lot of losses.
The huge Ming Empire was more powerful than the current Tamerlane Empire, whether it was economically, militarily, armamentally or in other aspects.
Timur also recognized this statement. He could not ignore the potential threat posed by the Ming Dynasty. If Tianzhu was completely controlled by the Ming Dynasty, then the Ming Dynasty could use Tianzhu as a springboard to launch an offensive against the Timur Empire.
No matter how brutal the fight was, the Ming Dynasty would not be affected at all, but the same could not be said for Samarkand.
So Tamerlane immediately issued a military order, ordering the troops that had been sent to the front line of the Ottoman Empire to turn back immediately.
He wanted to prepare troops to station in the Delhi Sultanate, and then further annex the Tianzhu area and start a military competition with the Ming Dynasty.
It depends on who can occupy more Tianzhu area.
Speaking of which, the current dynasties in Tianzhu are also unlucky. The struggle between the two overlords has affected him, a fish in the pond, and it should be said that there are several.
Regardless of the Ming Dynasty or Timur, this is something that the Tianzhu region cannot handle.
Now they can only watch helplessly.
News of Timur's withdrawal soon spread to the Ottoman Empire.
The three princes who had originally been preparing to unite to fight against Tamerlane now looked confused.
Without external threats, this means that his brothers have become the biggest threat, and Timur will probably not release their father.
So how to seize the throne of the Ottoman Empire is a big problem.
For a time, the three princes were in both beautiful and bad moods. The mutual non-war treaty they signed with each other also became a piece of waste paper in the tacit understanding of everyone.
It's just that the three pillars are too stalemate, and it's hard for anyone to take the lead.
Muhammad realized that to break this situation, another force was needed to intervene, otherwise none of the three could do anything to the other.
Although he thinks he is the strongest, no matter which side he attacks first, others will come to rescue him or take the opportunity to attack him.
"Your Highness, the Timur Empire is now facing a powerful threat from the Ming Dynasty. At this time, if we request the release of the fourth prince, perhaps this time Sultan Timur will be more likely to agree."
"At this time, Sultan Timur certainly does not want us, the Ottoman Empire, to pose a threat to him. Then the return of the fourth prince will inevitably trigger a war in the Ottoman Empire. This may be what Sultan Timur wants to see."
Faced with the proposal of his ministers, Muhammad asked: "But how can we make Timur think that if he releases his fourth brother, we will start a war?"
The minister continued: "Your Highness can ask Sultan Timur to re-divide our current territory after releasing the fourth prince, and give part of the territory to the fourth prince."
"If the eldest prince and the second prince disagree, it will be against Sultan Timur's order. If they agree, their own strength will be greatly weakened."
"No matter what the outcome is, the war will start because of the relationship between the four princes. This is the best situation for Sultan Timur. He no longer has to worry about us."
After thinking about it, Muhammad felt that it made sense, so he sent the minister who made the suggestion, carrying several carts of gold and silver treasures, as an envoy to Samarkand to request the release of his brother.
As the envoy, the minister was highly trusted by Muhammad, and his ability and eloquence were also outstanding.
After arriving in Samarkand, he told Timur about his thoughts and said that the Ottoman Empire would be Timur's forever loyal servant.
Timur was very satisfied with Muhammad's knowledge.
In his opinion, neither the release of the four princes nor the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid would affect the powerful Timurid Empire.
However, facing the threat of the Ming Dynasty, the chaotic Ottoman Empire was more in line with Timur's interests.
So Timur agreed to Muhammad's request and released his brother Musa Celebi.