After finishing the liquidation of the Fuso people and completely controlling the northern half of the first island chain in later generations, Zhu Shuren originally planned to take a two-year rest while he also needed Ding You——
Theoretically, he needs to stay inactive for twenty-seven months after his biological father Shen Tingyang passes away. However, because Shen Tingyang left in April of the 15th year of Longwu, the war ended in October of that year. So after the end of the war, in fact,
Only twenty-one months left,
After August of the 17th year of Longwu, everything could return to normal, and Zhu Shuren could once again continue his drastic transformation of the Ming Dynasty.
However, accidents are always inevitable, which seems to confirm the saying "a generation always comes in groups and leaves in groups." Zhu Shuren has just been idle for two years and is preparing to do things well, when another important person changes.
, I had to let him suppress the rhythm of the layout a little more.
The incident happened in the early 18th year of Longwu, more than five months after Zhu Shuren had completely finished worrying about his biological father and restored all nominal authority. He had just taken over the government affairs again and was almost ready.
Fifty-four-year-old Longwu Emperor Zhu Changzi also suffered from serious health problems. It was also a disease of wealth that is more common among middle-aged and elderly people in winter, such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. He suffered a stroke in the cold winter last year. At first, hemiplegia was not too serious.
But then it gradually worsened.
When Zhu Shuren first heard that his father-in-law was seriously ill, he was a little surprised, because he felt that fifty-four was not too old. When his biological father Shen Tingyang died a few years ago, he lived to be sixty-five.
However, he soon accepted this fact and realized that the generations of Lao Zhu's family seemed to have short life spans and had various health problems.
In the past hundred years, the longest living member of the old Zhu family was Zhu Changzi's biological uncle, Emperor Wanli, who barely lived past the age of sixty.
Among the other Mingguang Sects, Zhu Changluo and Tianqi Emperor Zhu Youxiao, which one was not a short-lived ghost? Although Chongzhen was killed, his health was not good. Zhu Changzi's biological father only lived to be forty-seven.
It seems that the emperors of the late Ming Dynasty generally had a shorter lifespan than famous ministers. I don’t know if the genes of the paternal line have deteriorated to a certain extent.
Now Zhu Changzi has basically lived the average lifespan of his biological father and uncle, which is completely normal. He has enjoyed enough happiness and has no restraint in all kinds of drinking and sex.
In addition, his son-in-law Zhu Shuren has opened up territory and developed science and technology for the Ming Dynasty in recent years. He also acquired many overseas rare treasures and exchanged species.
Since Zhu Changzi likes to learn more, he will try the fruits and wines offered as tributes from overseas, and he will also try the orchids from the east, west, north and south.
Some things such as food, drink, and entertainment are not adapted to the local environment, and minor disasters and illnesses occur more than once or twice. In the end, the body is exhausted, and once cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases of wealth occur, it will be on the verge of death.
However, fortunately, Zhu Changci was very tolerant of his good voice, color and music.
After slumping on the bed, he didn't feel aggrieved. He also knew that his son-in-law had been filial enough to him. Many of the overseas treasures he had enjoyed in his life were things that the previous emperors had never eaten, used, seen or played with.
.
What happened in the end was his own fault. His son-in-law did absolutely nothing, and there were no palace maids or eunuchs to make him dissolve in water or catch some disease.
Enjoying this carefree life until the age of fifty-four, everything is ready-made, and it is considered a sufficient living.
Because the emperor was seriously ill, many of the reforms or other measures originally planned by the imperial court to be deepened and restarted were also postponed. Throughout the eighteen years of Longwu, the state of "xiao rules, cao followed" was still maintained, and everything was less troublesome.
Zhu Changzi has been lying on the bed for more than half a year. Since ancient times, this cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease of wealth has been more difficult to endure in winter and summer.
Seeing the scorching summer heat, although the Nanjing Imperial Palace has various cooling technology measures that have only appeared in recent years, such as those winding copper tubes that resemble the condensation fins of later compressors, which are connected to low-temperature underground water, and the heat is exchanged and carried away in the room. The heat made the emperor's living environment quite superior.
Various new synthetic fragrances and tropical natural medicines to repel mosquitoes are also available upon request.
However, Zhu Changzi knew his own situation well. Seeing that his body was out of control day by day, he also knew that it was time to give his last words.
On the eighth day of July this year, Zhu Changzi, who had been losing control of his body for more than half a month, suddenly regained consciousness and became more sober. He summoned his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson (grandson in legal terms) to Qianqing Palace to give some instructions.
In addition to these relatives, Zhu Changzi also summoned several major cabinet ministers.
Including Zhang Huangyan, the second assistant of the cabinet, and Shi Kefa, the first assistant of the cabinet. The first assistant is ranked behind, mainly because Shi Kefa is also old. He happens to be sick often recently and does not have the energy to deal with too many things. This time Shi Kefa was also allowed to sit by the emperor. He was carried into the palace on a carriage and given a seat in front of the emperor.
Zhang Huangyan was forty-five at the time, Zhu Shuren was already forty-two, and Shi Kefa was just over sixty this year.
In ancient times, it was normal for a sixty-year-old man whose energy was declining and who had to frequently hand over his actual power to a "permanent deputy" while he was only acting in name.
In addition, Zhu Shuren's wife, Zhu Yuchan, is already thirty-three years old this year, and the emperor's grandson, Zhu Ciyu, is only sixteen years old. To be honest, it is not a very good age for succession. He definitely still needs someone to assist the government with full power, and cannot take charge immediately.
When Zhu Changzi was about to die, he spoke well and his mind suddenly became clearer than usual.
He called his three relatives to the bedside first, and suddenly asked his son-in-law a question: "How many years did Emperor Jianwen reign? How long after he ascended the throne did the trouble occur?"
Zhu Shuren was shocked when he heard this, thinking why his father-in-law suddenly raised such a question, it was too boring.
He quickly comforted him: "Why did my father say this? In today's world, our great power is at its peak, and it is not as strong as it was in the past. What's more, there is no trouble with the vassal king."
Zhu Changzi waved his hand and told him not to think too much: "I'm just asking, you just answer directly."
Zhu Shuren: "If we talk about the Yuan Dynasty, the chaos occurred in September. If we count from the death of Taizu, it will be one and a half years in total, and then we will fight for three years."
Zhu Changzi lay on the bed and nodded with difficulty: "That's more than three years, no more than four and a half years. Never forget the past, the teacher of the future. Young people are eager to make progress, only seeking quick victory and quick success, leading to great success. There are countless disasters in ancient and modern times.
Of course I am not worried about the vassal king now, but the principle of guarding against arrogance and impetuosity among young people is true in ancient and modern times. When Emperor Jianwen came to the throne, he caused chaos four years ago. When Wanli was the first emperor, Zhang Juzheng was able to do his best to serve as assistant and general, but in the end because of the late emperor and the crown If he does not return to power, he will be resentful for taking power, which will not be resolved until the apocalypse.
In this case, I order you to serve as regent as a prince, for a period of four years according to the story of Zhang Juzheng plus Taifu and Taishi, until the emperor's grandson reaches the age of weak. After that, the imperial power will be in charge. As for your future power, it will be up to the new king. That’s the decision.”
Zhu Changzi was a little out of breath when he said this, and some parts were not grammatical and etiquette. When it was promulgated in detail, he must know that the Hanlin who made the imperial edict had to re-polished the organizational language.
But the general meaning was understood very clearly by the three royal relatives and two cabinet ministers, a total of five people present.
Zhu Changzi was worried that his grandson was as young and impulsive as Zhu Yunwen, so Zhu Yunwen spent four years getting into trouble. Now, out of a heartache and the shadow of historical overlap that "Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Ciyu were both emperor's grandsons," he asked his grandson to get into trouble within four years.
He cannot handle any government affairs, and his power must be absolute and completely handed over to his biological father.
The highest-status regent in the Ming Dynasty was Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng was the only one in the Ming Dynasty who was granted the title of Taifu or Grand Master while he was still alive.
Zhu Shuren's status is different from that of Zhang Juzheng. He is a prince who has been given a national surname, so he must be specially designated as regent first, and other titles will be added gradually.
At the same time, since he thought of Zhang Juzheng, Zhu Changzi would of course also think of his uncle Wanli. It was because Zhang Juzheng did not return to power in time when Wanli came of age, which led to suspicion and grudges. Although Zhu Shuren and Zhu Ciyu are actually father and son, since Zhu Ciyu is
The emperor still has to ensure his authority after he reaches adulthood.
Especially because his paternal lineage does not come from the Zhu family, Zhu Ciyu's authority needs to be protected even more.
Otherwise, the princes surnamed Zhu will have more opportunities to gossip, and people in the world will spread the rumor that the emperor is actually the tool and puppet used by his biological father to take power.
Taking all the above factors into consideration, the final result is that a regent is needed, but the regency cannot be for too long. Just four years until the young emperor reaches the age of twenty is very suitable.
In the past four years, the little emperor also had to strengthen his studies. While his father actually handled government affairs, he also had to observe and review his father's decision-making methods, which was considered a probationary period.
The two ministers of the three royal families expressed that they understood His Majesty's painstaking efforts and would strictly abide by His Majesty's plans.
After handling the important matters, Zhu Changzi gave some other unimportant details, mainly his own funeral. Because he believed in Buddhism and liked to accumulate bad virtues, he was relatively indifferent to the funeral and ceremony after death.
Encouraging Zhu Shuren to keep everything simple is regarded as accruing virtue to him.
"I have been a good Buddha all my life. Although I have enjoyed excessively, I don't care about false etiquette. I only seek to be free and easy. When I was alive, you were already filial enough and spent your time on enjoyment. The previous emperors of this dynasty were not as good as me. I feel ashamed when I think about it.
After the collapse of the mountain mausoleum, there is no need to overdo it. In the future, you must also decide on a set of etiquette and make it a custom-made custom. The posthumous affairs of future Ming emperors must be simple, no more than my generation.
In addition, since the capital of Ming Dynasty is still in Nanjing, I don’t need to be buried in the north. I can just choose a place on Purple Mountain. Don’t be too close to Taizu’s Xiaoling Mausoleum, so as not to be disrespectful.
However, if the descendants of future generations still need to be buried in Nanjing if the Ming Dynasty has not moved its capital to the north, they can be arranged around my mausoleum in sequence similar to the Ming Tombs in Beijing."
Zhu Changzi's words were a request to show that he and Zhu Yuanzhang still had to leave some places, but the emperor would not have to leave too far away from him, just like the Ming Tombs.
Considering that the mountainous area outside Nanjing is small and the Zijin Mountain is only that big, we must save land. Otherwise, if the Ming Dynasty passes on for many more generations, all the hills on the Zijin Mountain will be buried. Is it possible that they will be given to future generations and then moved to Qixia?
Mountain, Shogun Mountain cannot be built? How can it be built!
In this way, there is also a reasonable reason for the emperor and his wife to keep things simple. Those who jump out and want to do big things will be squeezed back in the future: You allow today's world to occupy so much space because you think the Ming Dynasty's national destiny is not long enough.
Don’t you need to save the land in Purple Mountain?
Later, this opportunity became a historical turning point for the Ming Dynasty to simplify the mausoleum industry. It prevented the Ming emperors from spending too much money and money on this aspect, and also reduced the people's resentment, allowing the Ming royal family to transform into a royal family of a modern country.
More friendly to the people.
You know, every time an emperor died in the Ming Dynasty, the original money spent was millions of taels, and the cost of building a mausoleum was also millions of taels - for example, the Dingling Tomb of Zhu Changzi and his uncle Wanli Emperor cost
eight million taels,
Because the emperor had to continue to add bricks and tiles while he was alive. The longer the emperor lived, the longer and bigger the buildings were. So much support from the people was equivalent to a year's training during the Chongzhen period.
During the years when Zhu Shuren was in power, he relied on the wars between the Ming and Qing Dynasties to eliminate a large number of redundant officials and purge all those families that were not determined and had held false positions. This can be regarded as greatly alleviating the problem of the gentry families who have been officials for generations in the Ming Dynasty.
Later, by purging the vassal kings, the redundant personnel expenses of other clans were also cut by at least 90%. At that time, the only thing left was that the expenses of the royal family themselves had not been reduced much, which was a bit unconvincing.
Now Zhu Changzi actually has a very high consciousness. Although he still cannot cut off the emperor and prince's expenses for food, drink, entertainment, housing and transportation when they were alive, he can cut down more than half of the wasted funeral expenses after death, which is still a bowl of water.
draw.
Perhaps this is one of the few good things that an artist-emperor who believes in Buddhism and is open-minded can do.
After Zhu Changzi gave all the instructions, the Hanlin imperial edict was made in front of everyone. There were also several eunuchs from the Supervisor of Ceremonies to witness. Everyone who spoke at home and abroad was present, and the formalities of the edict were completed.
Seeing that all the seals of the posthumous edict had been used up, Zhu Changzi breathed a sigh of relief and was finally relieved.
…
Zhu Changzi did not die on the same day, but after that flashback, he never had time to be completely awake and able to handle government affairs.
The situation worsened and dragged on for more than half a month. Finally, on the second day of August in the 18th year of Longwu, he officially passed away in Qianqing Palace.
From the third day to the fifth day of August, Zhu Shuren, Zhu Yuchan and Zhu Ciyu must of course wear mourning to keep vigil and cannot eat meat or drink alcohol for three days.
In addition, because other emperors of the Ming Dynasty built mausoleums before they were alive, and Zhu Changzi only started to build mausoleums after he was seriously ill, so the burial would have to wait several months for construction - there was no way around it. When the other emperors of the Ming Dynasty were in power, the capital was in a very convenient location.
It is stable, and Zhu Changzi has never made it clear that he will not return to Beijing, so he cannot build large-scale construction on Zijin Mountain too early.
Fortunately, he built it temporarily and required it to be completed within a few months, so it could not cost too much or be too large. The officials of the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty also had a good eye for Feng Shui, which was similar to that of later generations, so Zhu Changzi was buried in
It was on the land selected by future rulers of some parallel time and space on the Purple Mountain.
In the end, including the funeral and the construction of the mausoleum, the total cost was more than 3 million taels. Considering the rise of the Ming Dynasty during Zhu Changzi's eighteen years in power, this expenditure was not excessive and was only a quarter of his uncle's.
After Zhu Shuren arranged the funeral for his father-in-law, he also took advantage of the situation and set an iron rule: the total expenses for future generations after the emperor's death should not exceed two million taels. Theoretically, it is one million for the funeral and one million for the mausoleum.
Borrow, but the total amount cannot exceed.
On the sixth day of August, Zhu Ciyu finished his mourning ceremony, took off his mourning robes, and ascended the throne in front of the spirit of Qianqing Palace. Zhu Shuren became the regent in accordance with the imperial edict, and added all the titles and honors that could be added, such as grand master.
The chief minister of the cabinet is still Shi Kefa, but since Shi Kefa fell ill, Zhang Huangyan took over for the time being.
This power structure does not affect Zhu Shuren's regency, because Zhu Shuren acted as the emperor's power and was the "regent", while the cabinet was only the "auxiliary". Zhu Shuren was the final decision-maker. This was not the case in the 280 years before the Ming Dynasty. precedent.
All the rewards and canonizations will be announced to the world. As for the change of Yuan Dynasty, we have to wait and it will not be changed until the first month of next year.
As the emperor's biological mother, Zhu Yuchan is still only the "eldest princess". Legally, she is the emperor's aunt and cannot be respected as the queen mother. This matter cannot be rushed, so she has shelved it for the time being.
Zhu Shuren had no intention of doing this kind of thing during the few years he had full power as regent. The appearance was too ugly. If his wife became the Queen Mother, how would the world view him?
At least we have to wait until his son takes office in the future.
After Zhu Ciyu ascended the throne, the first five months were basically peaceful. The Ming Dynasty clan and vassal kings had been weakened to the extreme. There were less than ten families alive in total, and half of them were those who had committed crimes before and had their titles reduced. Who dared to cause trouble?
However, Zhu Ciyu's succession is, after all, something that has no precedent. It will inevitably have an impact on people's thinking. There will always be ambitious thieves and thieves who are not ambitious enough.
So, within a few months, there were people pretending to be Chongzhen's other sons, saying that Li Zicheng and Dorgon did not kill all Chongzhen's sons, and questioning the death of Chongzhen's son. Now that Zhu Changzi was extinct as the legitimate heir of the royal family, they It’s time to get a piece of the pie.
It's a pity that these are ignorant people. Of course, the Ming army everywhere will not show mercy. With the Ming Dynasty's combat power, which has destroyed the Manchu Qing Dynasty and severely damaged the Fusang territory, the military generals directly killed these thieves. At last check, they were all Illiterate grass bandits who don’t know the heights of the sky——
This kind of people can never be completely banned, because there are always ignorant people in the world, and even hundreds of years later, there will still be those delusional people who gather in the mountains and forests in the ravines and then be exterminated by the police.
Therefore, if you are caught, just wipe out the whole clan. Kill a wave and you will be clean.
In the last five months of the eighteenth year of Longwu, three or four cases of people pretending to be the third prince Zhu were eliminated across the country. There were also seven or eight cases of people pretending to be various Ming vassal kings who were purged and killed by the Zhu Shu people. There were also those who claimed to be those who were killed. The one who destroyed the feudal king's side branches and slipped through the net.
However, the largest group of these people only mobilized thousands of people, and the others generally only had a few hundred people, which was not enough to squeeze through. Eleven rebellions were all eliminated. Counting the kills and gains on the battlefield, the total amount was only Less than 10,000 people were killed.
After some purges, Zhu Shuren's status as the emperor's son became more stable than before.
The only loss was that Zhu Shuren chose to keep a low profile in the past five months. In order to smooth the transition and show that he was not domineering, he did not make any reforms or radical measures. Everything was business as usual.
Time flies and the New Year comes. As the wheel of history rolls into a new era, Zhu Ciyu decided to change his Yuan Dynasty with the approval of his biological father.
——
PS: I'm being lazy here and haven't thought about the specific changes to the yuan, so I'm here out of context.
Everyone, please comment. Whoever changed it will use it in the next chapter. I don’t want to bother my brain with research. It’s ridiculous. I bow to the professional book friends.