With Hu Guan's death, there were now a total of ten emperors who died in unnatural deaths during the Hongwu period, all of whom committed suicide or were murdered - there were only twelve emperors who were consorts in the Hongwu period.
Currently, only the consorts of Princess Hanshan and Princess Ruyang, who ranked last in the order, are still alive and trembling. The youngest Princess Baoqing is only eight years old. Her mother, Concubine Zhang, died during the reign of Emperor Jianwen. She is currently being raised by Empress Xu and has not yet married.
Hu Guan died in disgrace. He was impeached by the censor for soliciting prostitutes, and committed suicide out of fear of punishment. Family disgrace should not be made public, and such things usually end with death from an acute illness.
However, Emperor Yongle was so angry about what Hu Guan had done that he did not cover up for him and asked the historians to record Hu Guan's death truthfully, leaving him with an infamy for all eternity and being ridiculed by future generations.
Princess Nankang was not only sad, but also humiliated. She stayed indoors more and more, taking care of her son Hu Zhong.
Ji Gang apologized to Jiang Quan, "I originally wanted to kill the rat and try not to hurt the jade bottle, but I didn't expect the emperor to be furious and not cover up Hu Guan's death, which still hurt Princess Nankang's face."
Jiang Quan has experienced many vicissitudes of life, has broad knowledge and is open-minded: "It has nothing to do with Lord Ji. It is better to suffer a short pain than a long one. This result is already very good. Nankang is mediocre. She lives her own life behind closed doors, away from the royal family's disputes. Who knows if it is not a blessing in disguise? Zhong'er is white, fat and cute. Nankang will slowly get over it. When Zhong'er grows up, the past will be forgotten. He will marry and have children, and it will be another generation. Compared with many women, Nankang's life is lucky."
Ji Gang was very impressed by Jiang Quan's tolerance and far-sightedness. "The eldest grandson of the emperor is back. He is young, but he is both civil and military, has a quick mind, knows how to read people's expressions, and is deeply loved by the emperor. He is allowed to walk around the study room freely, which is something that even the crown prince cannot do. The East Palace has made a great comeback with the help of the eldest grandson of the emperor. Many people are very disappointed and have their own plans in mind. The struggles of the royal family will never end. It is good for Lady Jiang and Nankang to stay away from the world so that they will have fewer troubles. Based on my observations over the past few years, the royal family of Yongle Dynasty is not an easy person to deal with. I don't know how bloody the future will be."
Jiang Quan nodded, "Let's not provoke any party, so as not to bring trouble upon ourselves."
Jiang Quan's concerns are not groundless.
The Yongle Dynasty had just begun, and the struggle between the princes began to show signs.
Emperor Yongle and Empress Xu had three princes, the eldest son Zhu Gaochi, the second son Zhu Gaoxu, and the third son Zhu Gaosui. From the point of view of birth, they were all brothers from the same mother, the first wife's legitimate son, but the dragon gave birth to nine sons, each of them was different.
Zhu Gaochi's character was as honest as his fat. He liked literature and disliked martial arts. However, due to his limited talent, he did not achieve any great achievements in literature. At most, he was at the level of a juren.
Zhu Gaoxu was very similar in stature and appearance to Emperor Yongle. He was brave and good at fighting. During the Jingnan Campaign, he always followed his father to charge into the battlefield, made great contributions, and saved his father from danger several times. He was Emperor Yongle's favorite son.
Zhu Gaosui looked like his second brother and had a similar personality to him. He also admired his second brother's talents and often praised him. He took his second brother as his role model and was his vassal.
Therefore, the struggle within the royal family was actually a contest between the eldest son Zhu Gaochi and the second son Zhu Gaoxu. Judging from the strength of the two sons, the eldest son was at an absolute disadvantage.
Two years ago, Emperor Yongle invaded the capital and ascended the throne. He immediately named his wife Xu as empress. At the same time, in order to demonstrate his legitimacy, he simply tampered with the birth records of the first five princes, including his own, and destroyed all traces of their biological mother, Consort Shuo. He changed the birth records of the first five princes, including the former Crown Prince Zhu Biao, to those born to Empress Xiaoci Ma. Anyway, the first three were dead, and he was the fourth child, so he became the eldest. The fifth child, Prince Zhou Zhu Su, was his younger brother, so if he didn't become emperor, who would
Emperor Yongle used thundering means to consolidate his and his wife's status. The next step was to appoint the crown prince as the crown prince.
According to the "Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions", if there is a legitimate son, the legitimate one will be the heir; if there is no legitimate son, the eldest son will be the heir. There were no illegitimate sons in the Yongle Dynasty. Zhu Gaochi was the eldest legitimate son, and had been canonized as the Prince of Yan by Emperor Gaozu. He was naturally the crown prince.
However, Zhu Gaoxu followed his father all the way to the capital. During the entire Jingnan Rebellion, Zhu Gaochi never left Beiping. During the Defense of Beiping, Zhu Gaochi's wives and concubines Zhang and Guo both wore military uniforms and held swords and guns, and climbed the city walls with their mother-in-law, Empress Xu, to kill the enemy. Due to his obesity and inconvenience in movement, he did not get a drop of blood on his hands and sat firmly in the back.
Zhu Gaochi was not in the capital, and many officials who wanted to surrender and join his side could not even find the door. How could they support him
As a result, Zhu Gaoxu, who was close to the capital, had the upper hand and his palace was always crowded with people. He soon controlled a large number of officials, who cheered for him and submitted memorials to support Zhu Gaoxu as the crown prince.
The third brother Zhu Gaosui also rushed to the capital to support his second brother.
Emperor Yongle loved his second son the most. Who wouldn’t like the son who saved his life? The eldest son, Zhu Gaochi, was obese and often sick. Emperor Yongle was also worried that the future crown prince would be unstable, which would add to the turmoil. So he decided to make the second son, who was healthy, brave and good at fighting, the crown prince.
However, Zhu Gaochi was in poor health and was not dead. According to the inheritance rules, the eldest son should be appointed as the heir.
Emperor Yongle was somewhat conflicted and delayed in appointing a crown prince.
If it were an ordinary person, after hearing that his father was thinking of changing the crown prince, he would have rushed to the capital long ago, won over some officials, asked them to cheer for him, and compete with his second brother for the crown prince position.
But Zhu Gaochi was not an ordinary person, he was a fat man with a big heart. During the whole Yongle year, he did nothing - he just stayed in Beiping with his wives and concubines to take care of his seriously ill mother, Empress Xu!
Several doctors were changed but none of them worked. Empress Xu was injured in the defense of Peking. Just when her husband finally ascended the throne and became emperor, she received the tragic news that her two brothers from her natal family and the Duke of Wei's mansion had died one after another. Empress Xu's condition became increasingly serious.
Zhu Gaochi was completely focused on his mother's illness and turned a deaf ear to all kinds of rumors in the capital. He looked for doctors and medicine everywhere and sent people to seek help from his fifth uncle, Prince of Zhou Zhu Su, who was proficient in medicine and devoted himself to compiling medical books.
Zhu Su recommended to his nephew two doctors who assisted him in compiling the book: the imperial physician Tan and the couple Ru Siyao.
This divine couple used all their life's knowledge to save Empress Xu from the brink of death.
Empress Xu had just recovered from a serious illness, and Zhu Gaochi finally arrived with his mother and wives and concubines, moving from Beiping to the capital.
When Emperor Yongle saw that Empress Xu looked radiant, and then looked at his eldest son Zhu Gaochi who seemed to have lost some weight, he could see that his eldest son was extremely filial. He immediately threw aside his prejudice against his eldest son and immersed himself in the joy of being reunited with Empress Xu and her husband.
Later, one of Zhu Gaochi's concubines, Li, gave birth to a son. What does this mean? This means that although Zhu Gaochi was a little fat, he was in good health - can a poor health make a concubine pregnant? Right
Zhu Gaochi's shortcomings of incompetence and poor health all disappeared. In addition, as he was the eldest son of the emperor, Emperor Yongle no longer hesitated. With a wave of his hand, he immediately named his eldest son Zhu Gaochi as the crown prince and moved the whole family to the Eastern Palace.
In this way, Zhu Gaochi made a series of brilliant moves and almost effortlessly won the position of crown prince that his second brother Zhu Gaoxu had been fighting for a year.
Zhu Gaochi, who has no power, no talent, no looks, and whose fat ruins everything, is a typical villain boss in romance novels. But he overwhelms Zhu Gaoxu, who has power, talent, good looks, eight-pack abs and long legs, and can be called the male protagonist of a romance novel.
In the second year of Yongle, in addition to enthroning Zhu Gaochi as the crown prince, Zhu Gaoxi was also enthroned as the King of Han and Zhu Gaosui as the King of Zhao. Thus, the dispute over the throne was settled.
A fat man's counterattack cured his mother's illness, and then made his concubine pregnant, and thus won the Eastern Palace, completely breaking the inherent routine of palace fighting, thus laying the tone for the bloody reversals and unpredictable court politics of the Yongle Dynasty.
As soon as Zhu Gaochi was named crown prince, he immediately asked Emperor Yongle to bring his eldest son Zhu Zhanji back from Yunnan. It would have been fine if his own son had been in Peking before, but now that he had been named crown prince and the whole family had moved to the capital, it was time to bring his eldest son back.
Zhu Zhanji rushed back to the palace day and night, just in time for the Dragon Boat Festival, and started the annual outing and archery activities. All generals and royal family members had to participate, and the fat white prince was no exception. The Taichang Temple, which was in charge of selecting horses, was worried: it was not easy to find a horse that could bear the prince's weight!
According to the prince's body shape, it would be more appropriate for him to ride a cow.
Zhu Gaoxu, the Prince of Han who was good at martial arts, thought that this was his chance! He must perform well in archery and trample on the face of his elder brother, the crown prince.
The competition began, and the prince, who was the most honorable, started from him. He rode a white horse, panting and looking hopeless, under the shade of willows.
The reason why he walked over was because the prince was too fat, and the white horse was lucky enough to walk fast, and it couldn't run at all.
The prince rode on it like a McFlurry cone - with fat-based ice cream piled on top and the pointed and fragile cone underneath, just like the slender limbs of the white horse.
Everyone knew that the prince was fat, but no one knew he was so fat. When he usually stood together, his excess fat was hidden under his wide robe, which was barely ok. But once he rode on a horse, it was like a public execution. The prince turned a horse ride into a parade through the streets, and his body of fat trembled with the bumpy rhythm of the white horse's gait. Every piece of fat was exposed to the sun, with nowhere to hide.
Now even his own father, Emperor Yongle, couldn't bear to watch it. The King of Han and the King of Zhao looked at each other with tacit understanding.
The King of Han praised him, "Brother Crown Prince has improved compared to before - before he couldn't even ride a horse, but now he can run a few steps on it."
King Zhao nodded: "Yes, Prince, you have lost some weight recently."
This is thin? How fat must he have been before!
Emperor Yongle won the world on horseback, and now he couldn't bear to watch it anymore. After all, he was his own son and the crown prince of a country. How could he look good in publicly embarrassing himself
Emperor Yongle waved his hand and said, "Hurry up and shoot. No need to ride a horse."
The white horse's four legs began to tremble, and it could hardly support the mountain of flesh on its body.
Zhu Gaochi took out a white-feather arrow from the quiver on his back with great effort and put it on the string. His head and face were covered in sweat, even his palms were soaked with sweat, as if he had just taken a bath. When he was shooting the arrow, his hand slipped and the first arrow missed the target.
The scene was dead silent. After all, the prince was the crown prince. When he made a fool of himself, no one dared to laugh and they could only remain silent.
For the second arrow, Zhu Gaochi learned from his lesson and wiped the sweat off his palms on his clothes before starting to shoot, barely hitting the edge of the target.
For the third arrow, Zhu Gaochi's arms were already weak, and the arrow was limp and fell to the ground before it reached the target.
After completing the task, Zhu Gaochi dismounted and rested with the help of four strong palace servants. He also told the official of the Taichang Temple who was leading the horse, "This horse has worked hard. Go back and give it more feed."
Empress Xu said to Emperor Yongle: "The prince is a kind-hearted child. He is so tired, but he still thinks about the horse."
In the eyes of his mother, no matter how old or fat he is, he is still her child. Moreover, when she was suffering from illness and the tragic news of the death of her brothers, the prince was the only child who stayed with her.
After hearing this, Emperor Yongle's heart softened and he swallowed all the words of blame he had for the prince.
When it was the turn of the Prince of Han, Zhu Gaoxi immediately began his performance, riding his horse and galloping, so fast that only the shadows of a man and a horse could be seen under the shade of green willows.
Three arrows were shot, all hitting the bull's eye.
Prince of Zhao Zhu Gaosui was the first to applaud, and everyone followed suit and cheered.
Emperor Yongle's frown relaxed, and he gave Zhu Gaoxu a prize, praising him to his ministers: "This boy is most like me."
Emperor Yongle was embarrassed to praise himself, so since he said his second son was like him, he was actually praising himself.
All the ministers were old foxes who had cultivated themselves into spirits. They all praised the King of Han. Emperor Yongle was very pleased to hear them.
Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui also hit three times, and then it was the turn of the royal consorts. Only two of the twelve consorts in the Hongwu Dynasty were left. After the shooting, it was the turn of the consorts in the Yongle Dynasty:
Yuan Rong, Marquis of Guangping and the consort of Princess Yong'an, the eldest daughter of Emperor Yongle.
The son-in-law of the second daughter, Princess Yongping, Li Rang, Marquis of Fuyang - the Li family was exterminated by Emperor Jianwen because Li Rang refused to surrender, so he was especially loved by Emperor Yongle and was currently the most favored son-in-law.
The third daughter, Princess Ancheng's husband, Song Hu, the son of Marquis Xining.
These three princes-in-law were all from military families. They were brave and good at fighting. They were generals who made great achievements in the Jingnan Campaign, so they all hit the target with three shots.
In addition, Emperor Yongle had two princesses who were still young and had not yet married.
Emperor Yongle was in a good mood. He nodded frequently and gave generous gifts to his three sons-in-law.
The princes-in-law had finished shooting, and it was the turn of the grandchildren.
The first person to appear was of course the emperor's eldest grandson Zhu Zhanji.
To be honest, when Zhu Zhanji first appeared, no one was optimistic about him.
Because he was too thin, when he returned home, the Crown Princess gave him some nutrients, but the nutrients had their own ideas and instead of growing flesh, they were all used to grow taller, and he grew up like a bamboo.
In order to facilitate riding and shooting, Zhu Zhanji changed into a riding and shooting suit with narrow sleeves and a waist. His waist was tightly tied with a leather belt. When he rode on the horse's back, his body rose and fell with the frequency of the horse's gallop. His thin waist seemed to be about to break, and he was just like a long-legged mantis riding a horse.
Zhu Zhanji held the bow and arrow and immediately entered a state of ecstasy. Ignoring everyone's gazes, he followed the steps taught by Mu Chun, adjusted his breathing, felt the change in wind direction, pulled out all three feather arrows from the quiver, put them on the string, and fired three arrows at once, all hitting the target.
The author has something to say: Zhu Gaochi’s biggest cheat is his son Zhu Zhanji.
Zhu Zhanji's biggest cheat is the Chunwei couple.
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