East Palace.
The Crown Princess was extremely anxious, "Zhanji is only twelve years old, and he has to follow the Emperor to fight in person. Isn't he too young?"
The prince said, "I came to the capital when I was twelve years old, ostensibly to serve the Emperor Gaozu, but in reality I was a hostage, and from then on I was separated from my father, the Emperor, and my mother, the Empress. The King of Han, Princess Yongping, and Princess Ancheng were even younger."
At a young age, the prince had to bear the responsibility of being the face of the Prince of Yan's Mansion. Facing all kinds of speculation and doubt, as well as the tests from Emperor Gaozu, he consoled himself with food. When he left home, he was a teenager, and when he came back, he was a fat man.
The crown prince matured too early, and the King of Han and his two younger sisters, who were in their rebellious period, huddled together for warmth. The brothers and sisters, who were born of the same mother, became alienated, leading to the chaos in the royal family today.
Being born in an imperial family, one has no control over one's own life. Who has an easy life
After ten months of pregnancy, the Crown Princess is still the mother. "Your Highness at least grew up with the Emperor and Empress until he was twelve years old. Zhanji was taken to Yunnan when he was less than two years old and didn't come back until five years later. In these years, he has been like a guest in the East Palace, being careful and attentive to everything. He has spent more time with the Emperor than you and I, and the East Palace is just a place for him to sleep. Now I can't even see him every day."
The Crown Princess sat down and wiped her tears. Guo Liang Di advised: "The Emperor is leading the Grandson to the battle personally. Some people want to go with him but cannot. This is an opportunity for the Grandson to gain experience. My brother Guo Xuan will also go north with him this time to protect the Grandson as a personal guard."
Guo Liangdi's widowed mother, Madam Xu, made a huge investment this time, placing all her bets on her son and daughter on the Eastern Palace.
The Crown Princess felt a little comforted, and although she was reluctant to leave, she had no choice.
Upon learning that his eldest cousin was going to follow the emperor in the war, Zhu Zhanhe brought a bunch of things into the palace and gave them to Zhu Zhanji, including light leather armor, new gunpowder factory guns, and so on.
"I know you have everything and don't need these, but this is just a token of my love."
Zhu Zhanhe looked at his eldest cousin with envy, "I also wanted to follow Grandpa Huang to the battle, but Grandpa Huang refused, saying that I was still young. I am small in that part. I am the same height as you, but at least ten pounds heavier than you."
Zhu Zhanji was trying on the armor, but it was empty inside, and he felt like he was dangling inside the helmet. Zhu Zhanhe's fit was just right, while his was a little too big.
"The Emperor will definitely lead the army more than once. You should wait patiently for the next one." Zhu Zhanji looked in the mirror and said, "I have grown taller recently. The armor should fit me when I arrive in Peking."
He added: "I am accompanying the emperor on this expedition. The journey is long and I will definitely not be able to make it in time for my grandmother's 2nd anniversary. When the time comes, you can burn incense for her on my behalf."
"besides-"
"Stop." Zhu Zhanhe covered his ears. "You are more nagging than my father and mother. I finally got out of the house to have some quiet time, and you are nagging again."
Zhu Zhanji had to shut up. He had assumed the responsibility of the Eastern Palace when he was very young and became the right-hand man of the crippled prince. His cousin Zhu Zhanhe had the powerful King of Han above him, so he, the prince, didn't have to worry about anything. Whenever the King of Han had time, he would teach his son a lesson, and his catchphrase was "Look at how excellent your eldest cousin is."
Zhu Zhanji is so outstanding that he doesn't seem like a normal human being. Zhu Zhanhe sometimes feels tired for his eldest cousin. He doesn't want to be the second Zhu Zhanji. He just wants to be himself.
Zhu Zhanhe's ears were callused from listening so much. He refused to obey instructions and often talked back, which made the King of Han so angry that he was speechless and wanted to beat him with a stick.
Zhu Zhanhe would certainly not accept a beating obediently, so he ran to the palace and hid beside the coffin of Empress Renxiao in Rouyi Hall. He knew that the King of Han would not dare to beat him there.
Zhu Zhanhe's entry into the palace would of course alarm Emperor Yongle. Before Prince of Han went to Rouyi Palace to arrest Zhu Zhanhe, Emperor Yongle intercepted Prince of Han and called him to the study to give him a lecture, asking him to teach his son calmly and not always shout for war and killing.
Emperor Yongle rarely smiled at his sons, but was very kind to his grandchildren. In the eyes of Emperor Yongle, Zhu Zhanhe was not as well-behaved as Zhu Zhanji, but Zhu Zhanhe looked most like himself when he was a child, and he was reluctant to let his grandson get beaten.
Unable to hit or scold him, the King of Han could only reason with Zhu Zhanhe. In the end, he just arranged a few sentences in combinations, and Zhu Zhanhe fell asleep while listening.
Zhu Zhanhe often complained to Zhu Zhanji, "Why do you always make things difficult for yourself? Can't you be less outstanding? My father keeps nagging me about 'people who are better than you work harder than you'. You want to be the best at everything. How can we, your younger brothers, survive?"
Zhu Zhanji just smiled and said, "When you are in my situation, you will understand why."
Zhu Zhanhe didn't know that Zhu Zhanji actually envied him.
Zhu Zhanhe presented a bunch of gifts, and at the end, he took out the last thing from the bottom of the box, "This is the telescope that Eunuch Sanbao brought back from his voyage to the West... Eunuch Sanbao gave it to Sister A Lei, and Sister A Lei asked me to give it to you."
Zhu Zhanji hesitated for a moment and took the telescope. "Is she busy recently? She has no time to go to the palace, and she wants you to bring something to me."
Why not come and see her off in person? It is convenient for her to enter the palace.
Zhu Zhanhe was heartless and didn't notice the hidden meaning of his cousin. He said, "Yes, she is very busy. Eunuch Sanbao returned from his voyage and brought many rare treasures and new things from the West. In preparation for the next voyage, the shipyard is going to build a bigger ship. I heard that horses can run on the deck of the new ship and even vegetables can be grown. A Lei was very interested and pretended to be a little eunuch. He followed Eunuch Sanbao around all day, counting those foreign objects and copying sea charts. I heard that you were going to follow Grandpa Huang to fight in person, so I asked me to bring this thing to you."
A girl like A Lei would never stay at home embroidering and writing poetry. It would be good for her to find something to do. But why didn't she tell me? I still learned about her recent situation from my cousin.
Zhu Zhanji felt a little disappointed after hearing this. He was reluctant to say anything to A Lei, but instead, he taught Zhu Zhanhe a lesson with a stern face, "Look, A Lei is more sensible than you. She is preparing for the voyage of the eunuch San Bao, while you are just hanging around doing nothing all day."
This made Zhu Zhanhe very angry. "It seems that my coming to the palace to see you off and give you gifts has turned out to be a bad thing. Humph, your kindness is taken for granted."
Zhu Zhanji knew he had said something wrong, and quickly found an excuse, "I'm just too worried about you - I'm going north with Grandpa Huang soon. If the King of Han wants to teach you a lesson in the future, no one can stop him. If you continue to be so dissolute, I don't know how many beatings you will receive."
This made Zhu Zhanhe depressed, "You are right, without the protective umbrella, how can I deal with my father in the future?"
Zhu Zhanji pointed to the coffin of Empress Renxiao in Rouyi Palace and said, "Grandmother will protect you in the afterlife."
The emperor personally led the army and the prince governed the country; both major events were full of ritual.
Before the expedition, there were complicated sacrificial ceremonies to be held in honor of heaven and earth, ancestral temples, the state, and the mountains and rivers that the army would pass through. It would take at least a month to complete them. Emperor Yongle was a pragmatic man, so he took his eldest grandson away first, and left all the sacrifices to the crown prince who was in charge of the country.
This is a tough time for Prince Penguin, as he has to participate in every sacrificial activity, and the complicated rituals often take half a day. Take the teacher's sacrifice as an example. In addition to the previous preparations, the prince needs to participate in the main sacrifice, which includes eight steps: welcoming the gods, removing the offerings, the second offering, the final offering, drinking and serving, clearing the beans, sending off the gods, and looking out.
These eight steps are further divided into several small steps, and the small steps are further divided into several sub-steps. Each sub-step has strict decomposition actions performed by ceremonial officers, and every step cannot be wrong. In addition to standing, the penguin prince also has to make various reactions based on the decomposition actions.
To give the simplest example, the second major step is to wash your hands.
Ritual hand washing is more tiring than washing your hair ten times.
First, the Minister of the Imperial Household would ask the Prince Penguin, who was performing the sacrifice on his behalf, to lead him to the place where he would wash his hands. Then, he would perform four separate actions: holding the jade tablet, washing hands, wiping hands, and taking out the jade tablet. The Minister of the Imperial Household would request the Minister of the Imperial Household to perform each action once, and the Prince Penguin would perform the actions in a disciplined manner, just like a wound-up robot.
This is just the beginning, the decomposition of the movements later will be more complicated.
After more than a month, Prince Penguin lost a lot of weight, but his feet were terribly swollen, especially his left foot. The bones were obviously deformed and the thumb nail was rotten and fell off.
The prince was able to persevere through all the ceremonies with his terrifying willpower. He wore a xxxxxl dress and soft-soled shoes specially made by the Shangfu Bureau. His feet felt like they were stepping on the tip of a knife. He was like a mermaid in "The Little Mermaid", splitting the fish tail in half. Every step he took was like walking on the tip of a knife. His yearning for power and love made him/her endure the inhuman torture and survive day after day.
No one dared to persuade the prince to take a rest.
The crown prince cannot rest. Once he rests, his younger brother, the King of Han, will perform the sacrifice on his behalf. If he can't even perform the ceremony properly, who would believe that he is capable of governing the country
Rituals are nothing, yet everything.
The prince survived, but the price was a pair of rotten feet - his originally intact right foot also showed signs of becoming diseased, and the diabetes disease became more serious.
The prince was so strong that even the King of Han, who was watching the joke from the side and waiting for the prince to withdraw voluntarily or simply faint so that he could take over the prince's sacrificial task at any time, admired him secretly.
I was wrong. The prince doesn't always win easily. At least in terms of tolerance, I am far inferior to him.
The King of Han did not wait for the prince to make a mistake in the sacrifice.
However, this is just the beginning. The expedition against the Tatars will take at least a year and a half, and the prince will have plenty of opportunities to make mistakes.
The Crown Prince was the regent and attended court in Wenhua Hall. The authority given to the Crown Prince by Emperor Yongle was very clear:
"Only the civil and military officials shall be appointed, tribute shall be paid to the four foreign countries, border mobilization shall be dispatched, and requests for permission to go to the imperial court shall be made. Other matters shall not be reported to the emperor."
What I mean is that, apart from the appointment and dismissal of important civil and military officials, diplomatic relations, military affairs and other national affairs, all other matters are left to you to handle, and you don't need to ask me.
This is the basic law for the Crown Prince to govern the country.
Emperor Yongle also taught the crown prince the core values of feudalism in governing the country:
"I have ordered you to supervise the country. You must be lenient and not impatient in all matters. All the civil and military officials are under my orders. Even if they make minor mistakes, you do not need to humiliate them. You must not listen to partial opinions and judge them by their likes and dislikes... Be respectful and careful!"
What I mean is that we should be calm in everything. I appointed these ministers, so there must be reasons for me. If they make small mistakes, I will teach them a lesson.
Just give them a lecture. Don't just listen to one side and be cautious before making any decision.
In addition, Emperor Yongle also established strict procedures for regency, and every action of the crown prince had to be procedurally legal: the crown prince was absolutely forbidden to meet with officials in private, and all officials had to at least meet in pairs when discussing matters with the crown prince.
After the grand court meeting, if the crown prince wanted to summon officials to discuss matters, "they must go in and out with the officials mentioned above. If anyone goes in or stays alone," officials from the four departments, namely, the Censor-in-Chief, the Honglu Temple Official, the Sizhilang, and the Qingjilang, must be present to supervise.
With such a strict procedure, the prince's every move was under the supervision of Emperor Yongle who led the army in person.
But what if the Censor-in-Chief and other low-ranking officials protect the crown prince? Who will ensure that this supervision is effective
Emperor Yongle gave this task to a person who would absolutely not protect the crown prince—the King of Han.
The crown prince supervises the country, and the king of Han supervises the crown prince, double supervision. The king of Han observes the crown prince with a magnifying glass, which is really cool.
The author has something to say: Tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival. I wish you all a happy Zongzi Festival holiday and give you 188 red envelopes. Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution.
Thanks to the little angels who cast [mines]: Green Wind, 21746418 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
48 bottles of Little Demon in Colorful Clothes; 40 bottles of Weisuo; 30 bottles of Yibuzhiyao; 20 bottles of Qiqirui; 15 bottles of Adai 2; 10 bottles of Quan, If There Is a Chance, and Gungun; 2 bottles of Ali who makes tea in Tingyu Tower;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!