When the first snow of the second year of Jianwen fell in the Daming harem, Empress Ma gave birth.
Having a new member of the family after losing his mother and brother was a great comfort to Emperor Jianwen. He took a rare day off from court and stayed outside the delivery room. Ever since Empress Ma started bleeding, Emperor Jianwen began fasting. The harem was forbidden to kill any living creature or eat any meat. Bows and arrows were hung at the gate, waiting for the birth of the royal heir.
Auspicious snow indicates a good harvest, and Emperor Jianwen felt that this child would bring good luck to the Ming Dynasty.
Empress Ma lived up to everyone's expectations and gave birth to a prince. Together with the previous crown prince, with two sons by her side, her position was as solid as that of Empress Ma before, and no one could shake it.
Emperor Jianwen held the newborn in his arms, feeling the unique vitality of the infant. Coupled with the recent smooth implementation of reforms, he felt that his luck was about to turn around.
After reducing the land tax in Jiangnan, Emperor Jianwen gained the support of the landlords in Jiangnan, while the voices of opposition from people in other regions were deliberately blocked by his officials. At this time, we have to mention the benefits of the Jinyiwei. When the Jinyiwei were in place, Emperor Gaozu was well aware of public opinion and they were his ears and eyes.
Without the Jinyiwei and no other secret service organizations, officials cut off the channels of communication in order to please the new emperor. Emperor Jianwen could not hear the voices of opposition and thought he was doing the right thing, but in fact he had become deaf and blind.
Emperor Jianwen knew that by reducing taxes, he could benefit the people and his approval rating would increase. In fact, he only knew one thing and not the other. The land in the south of the Yangtze River is fertile and the transportation is convenient, but land annexation is also serious. Most of the farmers are tenant farmers, and the land ownership is in the hands of the big landlords in the south of the Yangtze River. Many court officials are from big landlord families, including Fang Xiaoru's family. The family's land is huge, and it would take more than a month to collect rent on horseback. Therefore, whether it is reducing taxes or lowering the household registration threshold of the Ministry of Households, allowing southern officials to join the Ministry of Households, in the end, it is a bargain for southern officials, and ordinary people have not gained much actual benefits.
The southerners benefited from both official and financial circles, so they naturally fully supported these two reforms. All Emperor Jianwen heard were cheers and applause. Most people remained silent, or their voices were suppressed by officials.
But no matter what, at the end of the second year of Jianwen and the beginning of the next year, Emperor Jianwen spent his time surrounded by the birth of newborns, cheers of reform, and the good news of the Northern Expedition's successive victories. Everything went too smoothly, and he became more and more convinced that his judgment was correct.
Marshal Sheng Yong of the Northern Expedition Army took the initiative again and achieved a great victory in Dongchang. The Yan army was defeated and the King of Yan was almost captured alive. Fortunately, his general Zhang Yu was brave and rushed into the enemy camp to rescue the King of Yan, but he himself died in the battle.
When the victory news came, Emperor Jianwen was overjoyed and specially reported the victory news to the Taimiao to let his ancestors know.
However, when the offerings in the Taimiao were still fresh, Prince of Yan Zhu Di once again convened a swearing-in ceremony, imitating Cao Cao's practice of cutting his hair, taking off his robe and burning it on the spot, and swearing an oath. The morale of the Yan army was greatly boosted, and they quickly counterattacked and went into battle with Sheng Yong's 200,000 southern troops. Both sides won and lost.
This time, Prince of Yan Zhu Di was even more shameless and more shameless than Sheng Yong, and his tactics were even more despicable. In every attack, Prince of Yan Zhu Di led the charge and rushed to the front, accompanied by a group of soldiers beating gongs, drums and horns, shouting "The Prince of Yan is here!" and Emperor Jianwen's famous words "Don't let me be accused of killing my uncle."
Every time there was a retreat, the Prince of Yan would order his soldiers to go first, and he would stay behind to cover their retreat. As usual, there would be loud gongs and drums, and people would shout "My father is Emperor Gaozu" and "Don't let me be accused of killing my uncle."
The Prince of Yan had regarded this sentence as a golden ticket to avoid death. He clearly knew that the emperor wanted him to die and not be captured alive, but he deliberately misinterpreted it and made the Southern Army believe that Emperor Jianwen's order was not to kill him. Killing him would be disobeying the emperor's order and would be punishable by death.
Not only that, every time the King of Yan charged into the enemy lines, or covered the rear to protect the retreat of the Yan army, he would play this kind of weird BGM (background music) with great fanfare, and carry out brainwashing to let all the Southern Army know that he was here: I am here, you dare not hit me, only I can hit you, you cannot fight back, fighting back is disobeying the order and you will be beheaded.
In order to fight, Prince Yan completely discarded his old face, just like the leader of the Beggars' Sect, Qiao Feng, played by Huang Rihua in the 1997 version of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils". Every time he appeared, he was like carrying a speaker, playing Qiao Feng's exclusive BGM. With his BGM, no one could defeat him.
The same goes for Prince of Yan. When he fought several battles with Sheng Yong's army, whenever he appeared, the trumpet would sound first, accompanied by shouts of "My father is Emperor Gaozu", "The Prince of Yan is here" and "Don't let me be known as the killer of my uncle", just like postmodern health rock and rap. No matter how Prince of Yan charged and killed repeatedly in the Southern Army camp, no Southern Army dared to fight back on the spot!
The most exaggerated time was when King Yan took his BGM team to the front to scout the enemy situation - yes, since King Yan discovered that this amulet was quite useful, he simply took on all the dangerous tasks by himself, from reconnaissance to charge, to covering the rear, he did it all by himself.
As a result, the Prince of Yan was too tired during the reconnaissance and fell asleep. When he woke up, he and a dozen ceremonial guards who were responsible for playing BGM were surrounded by Sheng Yong's more than 100,000 southern troops.
The Prince of Yan was worthy of being the son of Emperor Gaozu. He calmly waved his hand, the BGM sounded, and he swaggered through the encirclement of hundreds of thousands of southern troops!
No one dared to touch the Prince of Yan, let alone shoot him from behind. They didn't even dare to fart, for fear of being charged with "disobeying the emperor's order" and being beheaded.
Emperor Jianwen slapped himself in the face: Why can't I control my mouth
It can be seen how important it is to speak human language. It is difficult for ordinary people to understand official language. Five hundred years later, a certain party proposed the slogan "fight the local tyrants and distribute the land", and in a certain country's presidential election, the presidential candidate with a unique hairstyle of local support for the central government proposed the campaign slogan "make the country great again", all of which relied on concise human language to win support.
Sheng Yong was so angry that he almost vomited blood. As the commander-in-chief, he certainly knew the true meaning of "don't let me be known as the one who killed my uncle", but this hidden intention could only be understood, not expressed in words. In front of everyone, Sheng Yong did not dare to publicly order the arrows to be shot at the King of Yan!
After the Prince of Yan returned safely, he became more and more fearless. When the two armies fought, wherever the Prince of Yan went, the Southern Army lay down their arms and dared not touch him. They only dared to pick up swords and guns to fight with other Yan troops until he left.
Last year, Sheng Yong resorted to the outrageous move of hanging the "Divine Tablet of Emperor Gaozu" in the city of Jinan, forcing the Prince of Yan to not dare to fire at his father's tablet. He had to retreat, fighting poison with poison and defeating war with war.
Unexpectedly, the Prince of Yan had no bottom line in his outrageous operations. He relied on the bgm trick to turn defeat into victory and won the great victory at Jiahe. Sheng Yong was defeated and had to retreat to Dezhou.
The Southern Army suffered heavy losses, and the joy of the victory was suddenly overwhelmed. The court went from revelry to panic. In order to calm the public anger, Emperor Jianwen had to dismiss the Minister of War Qi Tai and the Imperial Academy Lecturer Huang Zicheng again - because these two people recommended Sheng Yong as the commander-in-chief.
However, although the two men were dismissed from office on the surface, they actually left the capital and went around recruiting soldiers and gathering food and fodder with the order of Emperor Jianwen.
Yes, Emperor Jianwen wanted to give Sheng Yong some additional troops this time so that the Southern Army could counterattack as soon as possible and win. However, he found that after the three commanders Geng Bingwen, Li Jinglong and Sheng Yong lost troops one after another, he no longer had any ready-made troops to support the Southern Army.
After Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai left, the only ministers left in the capital were Fang Xiaoru and others. Among them, Fang Xiaoru was the most favored by the emperor. Fang Xiaoru suggested to Emperor Jianwen: "Now that Lord Huang and Minister Qi have gone to recruit soldiers, the war situation in the north is tense. We can't wait for the rice to cook. It is better to stop the war and negotiate first, and use a delaying tactic."
Emperor Jianwen also had this idea. He had lost miserably even though he had an absolute advantage in military strength before. Now that his military strength has been drastically reduced, how can he continue to fight? He might as well negotiate peace!
Unexpectedly, before Emperor Jianwen selected an envoy, the envoy of Prince of Yan had already arrived in the capital, and announced with great fanfare that Prince of Yan wanted to negotiate!
The Prince of Yan is really cunning and treacherous. He wants to stand on the moral high ground, prepare for his future ascension to the throne, and create a public opinion offensive.
The envoy of Prince of Yan claimed that Prince of Yan only wanted to purge the court of evil officials and had no intention of rebellion. As long as Fang Xiaoru, Huang Zicheng and others who had destroyed the ancestral system were handed over, Prince of Yan would withdraw his troops.
When meeting the exorbitant price asked by the envoy of Prince of Yan, Emperor Jianwen was put in a passive position and had to bargain on the spot. Since Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai were out recruiting soldiers, Emperor Jianwen could only discuss countermeasures with Fang Xiaoru.
Fang Xiaoru was passionate and offered his head frankly, "If you want my head, no problem, just take it, but the prerequisite is that the King of Yan comes to the capital in person, lays down his weapons, takes off his armor, and then takes my head away. For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, my life is nothing."
Emperor Jianwen said hurriedly, "Absolutely not. Lord Fang is a minister of state left by Emperor Gaozu. How can he be insulted by the Yan thieves? As long as we can lure the Prince of Yan to the capital and arrest him on the spot, Lord Fang doesn't have to sacrifice his life. We can buy time and order the Southern Army to attack the Yan Army from Liaodong, attacking from both sides."
The emperor and his ministers agreed on a counter-offer, which was conveyed by Xue Shaoqing of the Dali Temple.
Naturally, the "evil plot" discussed by the emperor and his ministers was written down by Hu Shanwei on a note, sealed in a wax ball, and carried out from the toilet.
When the King of Yan saw the intelligence, he laughed out loud and said, "You really fooled me like a three-year-old kid." He then ordered to strengthen the defense of the Liaodong hinterland, and the Southern Army had to give up the attack from the hinterland.
The envoy of Prince Yan scolded the court for breaking its promise. It was clearly there to negotiate, but it was secretly carrying out such a shameless act as a sneak attack. He cursed Fang Xiaoru as a traitor who misled the king.
Fang Xiaoru was scolded until his face turned red. He could no longer bear it, so he suggested to Emperor Jianwen: "Execute the envoy of the Prince of Yan to set an example."
An official immediately suggested, "When two armies are fighting, it is customary not to kill envoys."
Fang Xiaoru sneered, "You speak for the Yan army, are you a spy for the King of Yan? No wonder the King of Yan knew about our army's sneak attack on Liaodong, it was all leaked by spies like you!"
In order to protect the regents, Emperor Jianwen ordered the envoy of Prince of Yan to be beheaded in public.
As a result, the negotiations between the imperial court and the Prince of Yan broke down. The imperial court was defeated again in public opinion because it executed the envoy and broke the rules.
Of course, Emperor Jianwen couldn't hear all this, as everyone around him said that the execution was a good move.
The envoy was beheaded and the King of Yan was furious. Top-secret intelligence came from the front saying that Huang Zicheng had raised millions of stones of grain and fodder to support Sheng Yong's army in Dezhou, and that the grain would be delivered soon.
Ji Gang secretly obtained 6,000 sets of Southern Army uniforms. King Yan ordered them to change their clothes and disguise themselves as Southern Army soldiers. They actually managed to sneak through and arrived in Pei County. They burned the Southern Army's food and fodder, and cooked all the fish and shrimp in the river. Huang Zicheng's hard work was ruined in an instant.
In the capital, facing the bad news of the grain and grass being intercepted, Fang Xiaoru fought again and again after repeated defeats. He made another effort and offered a counter-espionage plan: he asked Emperor Jianwen to write a letter to Prince of Yan, Zhu Gaochi, promising him the throne of Prince of Yan. As long as he was willing to submit to the court and identify his father, Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, as a traitor, he would be given Beiping.
He also asked Emperor Jianwen to send someone the Prince of Yan could trust to leak the secret to the Prince of Yan, saying that the Prince of Yan's son had surrendered to the court.
Fang Xiaoru wanted the father and son of the Prince of Yan to turn against each other. This method was once used by Li Jinglong to alienate the father and son of the Prince of Zhou, the younger brother of the Prince of Yan. At that time, the second son of the Prince of Zhou was jealous of his elder brother, the Crown Prince of Zhou, and wrote a letter to report his father and brother for treason. In this way, he got the position of the Prince of Zhou. He only cared about his own wealth and allowed all his family members to be demoted to commoners and imprisoned in Fengyang.
Fang Xiaoru used the same old trick again, using the dark side of people's hearts to deal with the Prince of Yan, "… According to the intelligence of our army's scouts, the Prince of Yan's son Zhu Gaochi is obese and not good at fighting, so he has been staying in Beiping to defend the city. Every time the Prince of Yan went to war, he took his second son Zhu Gaoxu with him. Zhu Gaoxu was brave and good at fighting, and he had saved the Prince of Yan on the battlefield. The Prince of Yan said in public more than once that the second son was most like him, which shows that the Prince of Yan favors the second son. Isn't the Prince of Yan jealous and panicked?"
Emperor Jianwen hesitated for a moment and said, "What if the Prince of Yan doesn't fall for it and refuses?"
Fang Xiaoru smiled and said, "As long as he opens the letter and reads it, as long as the Prince of Yan knows that the Crown Prince has had contact with the envoy sent by Your Highness, whether they believe it or not, it will be a thorn in their hearts. The Prince of Yan has learned from his brother, the Prince of Zhou, how can he not be on guard against the Crown Prince? Father and son are alienated, and the Prince of Yan's Crown Prince is guarding Beiping. The Prince of Yan will have difficulty taking care of both ends, and his formation will definitely be in chaos."
Emperor Jianwen thought that the counter-espionage plan was feasible, so he immediately wrote a letter and asked the envoy to deliver it to the Prince of Yan in Peking. The first step of the counter-espionage plan was completed, but the second step was a bit difficult. Last time, the envoy sent by the Prince of Yan was beheaded. Now the Prince of Yan would definitely not believe me. Who would he believe
Emperor Jianwen thought about it and thought of one person - Princess Huaiqing.
Prince Yan's younger brother, Prince Zhou, was raised by Princess Huaiqing's mother, Consort Chengmu Sun. The two have a good relationship and love each other for their children. Prince Yan treats Princess Huaiqing more affectionately than other princesses, so he should believe what Princess Huaiqing says.
So, Emperor Jianwen summoned Princess Huaiqing and asked her to write a letter to Prince of Yan, saying that the Crown Prince of Yan had secretly surrendered to the court, and asked Prince of Yan to be careful about his son to prevent him from repeating his brother's mistakes.
Princess Huaiqing had long since surrendered to the Prince of Yan. When Emperor Jianwen asked her to sow discord between the Prince of Yan and his son, she obeyed on the surface, copied the letter that Emperor Jianwen had prepared long ago, stamped it with his private seal, and even asked his trusted followers to deliver the letter to the Prince of Yan from afar. Emperor Jianwen was very satisfied with Princess Huaiqing's cooperation.
Princess Huaiqing said on the surface that this was what she should do, but secretly revealed Emperor Jianwen's counter-espionage plan to Prince Yan as a warning.
Don't repeat the tragedy of my fifth brother, Prince Zhou! Princess Huaiqing despised Emperor Jianwen's nephew even more. It would have been fine if you committed suicide and killed your own mother and brother, but you also tried to instigate other relatives to become enemies. You were thinking in the wrong way.
Peking City.
Zhu Gaochi, the Prince of Yan, looked at the letter on the desk, like a hot potato. His fingers touched it several times, but it bounced away immediately.
He didn't know what was written in the handwritten letter from Emperor Jianwen, and the court envoy who delivered the letter was also vague. However, he had been a hostage in the capital for nearly ten years, which made him cautious and calm.
Some also say that he is too mild-mannered. However, when you have a father who is shameless and keeps making tricks with his own background music, a mother who is so tough that she can lead 10,000 soldiers to defend against an army of 300,000 attacking the city, a younger brother with an impulsive and bad temper, a wife who is a "snake-beating girl", and even the concubine is a daughter of a general from a wealthy family in the capital, the wife and concubine work together to climb the city wall, holding weapons and hacking at the Southern Army attacking the city together with the mother-in-law.
It is not easy to offend any of them, and only someone with Zhu Gaochi's character can live a peaceful life surrounded by "a pack of wolves".
Zhu Gaochi was undecided and had to call his wife, Crown Princess Zhang, and concubine Guo to ask them what to do.
Crown Prince's Consort Zhang: "When two armies are at war, envoys are not killed. The court broke the rules first and killed our envoy from the Prince of Yan's Palace. This shows that the court cannot be trusted. No matter what the content of this letter is, it cannot be believed."
Concubine Guo said, "The master of the Prince of Yan's Mansion is the eunuch. If the court wants to negotiate again, this letter should be sent to the eunuch on the front line. Why did it send it to Beiping? And it specifically sent it to the prince? There must be a trick."
Zhu Gaochi slapped his big round head and said, "You are all right. If the name is not right, then the words will not flow. I cannot make the decision. It must be sent to someone who can make the decision. Come on, put the letter intact into the box and send it to my father together with the imperial envoy. Please make the decision."
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I will send 200 red envelopes tonight. I wish you all a happy May Day holiday, a good sleep, and no weight gain.