Chapter 190 The battle between the concubine and the concubine

Chapter 190 The battle between the concubine and the concubine

Chapter 190 The battle between the concubine and the concubine
In the Prince's Mansion, because of the heavy things being discussed,

The prince and Lan Yu came out of the study and walked along the corridor of the prince's mansion.

The surroundings are full of greenery, the wind blows gently, and the leaves rustle.
But Lan Yu stared at the green plants in front of him, frowned again, and said in a deep voice:

"Your Highness, the greenery in the mansion should not be too dense. If a thief wants to do something illegal, he can hide among them without being discovered."

Zhu Biao was stunned, and then a look of astonishment flashed in his eyes. He looked at the green plant that Lan Yu was pointing at, and his face showed helplessness:

"Uncle, this is Yingtian, where all the military and cultural talents gather. It is the safest place in the world.
If there are really so many thieves, then my nephew might as well move to the palace."

When the prince comes of age, he needs to set up his own palace, but Zhu Biao is not an ordinary prince. If he lives in the palace, no one can say anything.

Lan Yu probably felt that he was making a big deal out of nothing, so he sighed softly:

"Your Highness, now is different than before.

In the past, when there was an external enemy, the government and the people were united in fighting against it, vowing to wipe out the Northern Yuan Dynasty.
Now that the Northern Yuan Dynasty has been destroyed and the foreign enemies have been pacified, internal strife is inevitable among the officials in the government and the public.

Such things have happened all the time, so we should be careful."

Crown Prince Zhu Biao's expression also became solemn. He naturally understood this principle.

After dealing with external enemies, the imperial court faced more complex and difficult internal problems.

Lan Yu continued:

“Your Highness, all the way north, the suppression of young generals is still uncertain;

If there really is a real culprit behind this, that would be it. Those who should be arrested should be arrested, and those who should be killed should be killed.

The fear is that there is no real culprit and it was a local official who took the initiative, which would be a bit troublesome.”

For a moment, the atmosphere became solemn again, and Zhu Biao knew what he meant.

The Ming Dynasty was newly established, and all the civil and military officials were newly promoted wise officials.
But as time goes by and peace lasts for a long time, people's hearts will always change.

Someone who used to be honest and not corrupt may gradually become corrupt and power-hungry.

In order to keep their official positions and power, they will involuntarily suppress those who are not as advanced as them.
It's just like how many young soldiers are being suppressed now.

Such things have already happened in the military, and they may happen in the court.

After all, such things were vividly reflected in the Song and Yuan dynasties.

Zhu Biao's expression became more and more solemn, and he said in a deep voice:

"The deliberate suppression of these young generals must be dealt with severely. The Five Military Commandery and the Ministry of War must bring those who instigated it to justice.
Even if there are none, we must find one or two corrupt officials and make an example of them.”

Lan Yu nodded heavily: "Your Highness, how should we deal with the matter of Yu Tongyuan?

He requested for Lu Yunyi to be conferred a title, which was clearly an attempt to put him on the spot, and he had no good intentions. "

At this point, Zhu Biao showed some helplessness on his face:
"Uncle, this is an open conspiracy. If it gets out, we will also gain a good reputation for supporting the younger generation.
Let's leave this matter alone for now, and don't publicize it.

If we confer a title on Lu Yunyi out of anger, should other veterans be given titles as well?
There are countless meritorious officials in the court and the country. How should they be rewarded?
It is better to put it aside and wait until the glory of the Northern Expedition Army's return has passed.

Once the red pen draws a line, the matter is over, and Yu Tongyuan and others can’t say anything.”

There was a trace of regret on Lan Yu's face. If he could really take advantage of the situation and get another title, it would be great for the army and would inspire the morale of soldiers all over the world.

"Your Highness, when the time comes to reward the soldiers for their merits, you must not mistreat the soldiers who have gone to the north.
I have already told the Five Military Commanders to give generous rewards to strengthen the imperial army."

Crown Prince Zhu Biao was silent for a while, and finally sighed helplessly:

"Uncle, you also know the difficulties of the court.

Not only military generals but also civil officials should be considered.

If you promote military generals, you must also promote civil officials. Only in this way can you barely maintain a balance between civil and military affairs.

I think it is not appropriate to publicize the reward for the Northern Expedition. It should only be spread among the army."

"Your Highness, if we don't publicize the great achievement of destroying the Northern Yuan Dynasty,

The common people are all upset and may think that the court looks down on those who join the army.”

Lan Yu's face was solemn, and he continued:
"Your Highness, along the way, I sent people to check every city.

The literary style is becoming more and more intense, and the voice of abandoning military affairs and pursuing literature is prevalent among the government and the public. This is not acceptable.

The two ways of civil and military affairs are like the two legs of the Ming Dynasty. Neither can be abandoned. If we only care about one, wouldn’t we become the old dynasty? "

The Ming Dynasty inherited the Yuan system, but because the Song Dynasty was not far away,

Therefore, the lessons of the lameness of the Song and Yuan dynasties were still fresh in people’s minds, and the Ming Dynasty was trying its best to avoid them.

Zhu Biao's eyes were empty, and he walked woodenly, with a flash of sadness in his eyes.

The external enemies have been defeated. If the Ming Dynasty wants to deal with internal affairs in the future, it must use scholars to govern the country.

This will certainly be biased, and there is nothing we can do about it.

Thinking of this, Zhu Biao sighed and said in a deep voice:
"We'll discuss this later. Silunfa in the southwest has already decided to send troops. In your opinion, uncle, how many troops should our dynasty send?"

Lan Yu's face was solemn. He had already given some thoughts on this matter:

"Reporting to Your Highness, Silunfa claims to have 300,000 troops, but the actual combat troops may be less than 100,000.
Then my Great Ming is certainly not comparable to Luchuan. I can easily dispatch 300,000 soldiers.

In my opinion, the pacification of Luchuan should be done once and for all this time, and the soldiers should be better and better.

But for elite soldiers who are really good at fighting, 50,000 are enough.”

Hearing this, Zhu Biao stopped and a trace of helplessness flashed in his eyes.

Lan Yu took it all in and smiled bitterly:
"Your Highness, now the only big battle left in the world is this one in the southwest.
I have just returned to the capital, and I have received many greetings.

They all expressed their willingness to serve the country loyally and sent troops to Luchuan.

Some of them are veteran generals who have followed Your Majesty since the Zhizheng period. I really don’t know how to refuse them.

Just let them go and gain some merits, as long as they don't cause trouble to the court.

The real battles still depend on Mu Ying and the elite troops of the imperial court. As for others, we cannot rely on them."

"Then the imperial court is spending money for nothing to support the army."

Zhu Biao complained, but it was just a complaint.

He almost concluded in his heart that if this method was submitted, His Majesty would definitely agree.
Your Majesty is benevolent and the court almost always responds to requests from those who have made contributions and fought for the country.

Lan Yu looked helpless and was about to say something, but Crown Prince Zhu Biao waved his hand:

"Leave it to my uncle and father to decide. I don't intend to worry about it.
But all this is to ensure the success of the war.
If there are too many people and they disturb Mu Ying, don't expect me to speak well of them when Mu Ying submits a memorial."

"Of course, we are all veterans of marching and fighting, and we know the limits.
They saw that the Northern Expedition Army had made great achievements, and they were jealous, so they wanted to take this opportunity to help the younger generation.

But you know what kind of people those young people are.

If you let him spend his days in debauchery, he will naturally learn without any instruction. If you let him go to war... he is not fit for important positions."

Lan Yu also showed some helplessness on his face at the right time.
Since becoming the General of Conquering the Enemy, he has come to realize how difficult those veterans in the army are.

Before they knew it, they had walked into the garden of the Prince's Mansion. They heard a noise in front of them and looked in the direction of the sound.
The prince and Lan Yu both stopped where they were.

In front, the Crown Princess Lu was sitting quietly on a stone bench, and next to her were two half-grown children wearing luxurious clothes.
Sitting close to Lu, in her arms, the slightly older one is the eldest son Zhu Yunwen.
The slightly shorter one, sitting on a stone bench nearby, is the second son, Zhu Yunhuan.

The eldest son of Crown Prince Zhu Biao was Zhu Xiongying, born to the former Crown Princess Chang. He died in the 15th year of Hongwu and was posthumously named Prince Yu and given the posthumous title of "Huai". He was buried in Zhongshan. His mother, the former Crown Princess Chang, also died after giving birth to Zhu Yunhuan in the 11th year of Hongwu. After her death, Lü was promoted to Crown Princess.

And his illegitimate eldest son Zhu Yunwen naturally became the eldest legitimate son.

But no matter whether it is the government or the court, everyone is very secretive about this matter.
It is believed that Zhu Yunwen is still the eldest son of a concubine, and the real legitimate son is Zhu Yunhuan.

In particular, the military generals headed by Lan Yu almost only recognized Zhu Yunhu, because his biological mother, Chang, was the eldest daughter of Kaiping King Chang Yuchun.

In addition, the "Great Ming Decree - Household Decree" stipulates: "All legitimate and illegitimate sons, except those who have inherited an official position, shall be divided equally among the eldest legitimate sons and grandsons, regardless of whether they have wives, concubines, or maids, and their wealth and land shall be divided equally according to the number of sons."

In the 16th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, the ritual was legalized.

[The first is to use the eldest son as the heir. If the eldest son is disabled, then the eldest son's descendants will be used up to the great-great ...
All official positions and property should be passed on to the eldest son first. If the eldest son is disabled for some reason and cannot inherit,
It should be inherited by the descendants of the eldest son, and traced back to the great-grandson and great-great-grandson.

If there is no one among the eldest son's descendants who can inherit, the eldest son's brothers from the same mother and their descendants should inherit, and the inheritance can also be traced back to their great-grandsons and great-great-grandsons.

If there is no one among the eldest son's brothers and their descendants who can inherit, then the second wife will take the turn.
That is, the inheritance issue is considered for the wife remarried after the wife's death and the sons born to other concubines.

Now the struggle between the civil and military officials in the Ming Dynasty was becoming more and more intense. Zhu Yunwen's biological mother, Lu, was the daughter of Lu Ben, the Minister of Taichang Temple, and a civil official. Therefore, the military generals in the army could not identify with Zhu Yunwen.

Similarly, the court officials believed that since Lu was already the Crown Princess,
Then Zhu Yunwen is the legitimate son, not the illegitimate son. For this reason, the classics are quoted.

"New Book of Tang Dynasty·Confucianism·Wei Gongsu", in ancient times, princes married nine women at a time, so there was no second legitimate wife in the temple. Since the Qin Dynasty, people have been allowed to remarry, and the first wife and the second wife are both legitimate wives, so there is no suspicion of enshrining two wives in the temple.

This kind of thing would be brought up every year and would last for several months. The two children, one literary and the other martial,
This concerns the future position of crown prince and emperor, and both sides will not give in!
After all, one will naturally become close to whoever is on top, so both civil and military officials spare no effort.

But after today, Lan Yu returned with a great victory and was promoted to Duke of Liang, and the dispute between the legitimate and illegitimate children seemed to have been settled.

From today on, Zhu Yunhuan will have the Duke of Sanfu standing behind him.

My uncle, Duke of Zheng Chang Mao, my great-uncle, Duke of Liang Lan Yu, and my relative, Duke of Song Feng Sheng, these three people almost cover most of the Ming army.

Although Zhu Yunwen had civil officials behind him, they were still dwarfed by the three dukes and the military officers behind them.

Just at this moment, Lan Yu's whole old face was squeezed together,
The smile on his face was indescribable, his whole body seemed to melt, without any of the dignity of a conquering general.

He just trotted over, picked up Zhu Yunhuan and held him high up, letting out an "Oh~" sound.

Zhu Yunhuan was startled at first, but when he saw who was coming,
His small eyes narrowed, revealing a row of tender little white teeth, and he laughed.

"Do you miss your uncle? Let me see if Xun'er has grown taller. Hey~ He seems a little heavier. Xun'er has grown up, grown up~"

Lan Yu held Zhu Yunhuan and turned around. The smiling faces of the old and the young not only failed to make the atmosphere in the garden warm, but instead made it extremely solemn.

Zhu Yunwen stared at his disciples in the sky in a daze, and hid in Lu's arms with some fear. The smile on Lu's face also became a little unnatural.

The same was true for Crown Prince Zhu Biao.

But Lan Yu still didn't care and kept asking Zhu Yunhuan many questions.
Zhu Yunhuan had no time to answer, and could only say in a crisp voice:
"Uncle, you have too much to say. I can't finish my words."

"Hahahahaha, I won't say anymore."

Lan Yu's laughter was deafening, causing the Crown Prince to sigh helplessly and look at Zhu Yunwen:
"How do I call my uncle when I see him?"

Zhu Yunwen then jumped down and called out respectfully, "Granduncle."

Lan Yu still had a smile on his face. He looked over and nodded.

But he quickly turned his head away, and even Zhu Yunwen could sense his perfunctory attitude.

"Come on, come on, let your uncle take you for a ride on a big horse. Let's go!"

Lan Yu carried Zhu Yunhuan on his shoulders, supported him with both hands, and started jogging, which made Zhu Yunhuan laugh continuously.
After a while, the two disappeared.

After the two left, Lu still sat there silently, with an indescribable gloom in her eyes.

Zhu Yunwen stood silently by the side, and both the old and the young looked extremely sad.

Zhu Biao had no choice but to accept this kind of differential treatment, and he understood it clearly in his heart.

During the Ming Dynasty's uprising and turbulent times, people attached great importance to the inheritance of close relatives. A wife is a wife and a concubine is a concubine.

Although the Ming Dynasty royal family is now flourishing and has many children,
But in your majesty's heart, only the four brothers Zhu Biao are father and son and a family, and the rest of the children are just the monarch and his subjects.

With a sigh, Zhu Biao walked forward, sat down on the stone bench, and pulled Zhu Yunwen over:

"Have you memorized all the lessons for today?"

"Father, I've memorized it."

Zhu Yunwen spoke crisply, with a smile on his young face.

Zhu Biao nodded, and then looked at Lu:

"The army is returning south. I may be very busy these days and won't be able to take care of you and your son."

Lu looked sad, nodded slightly, and said softly:
"Your Highness, are you ever not busy? I'm used to it."

Zhu Biao sighed again and looked at the servant standing beside him, with some annoyance in his tone:
"Is the meal ready?"

"Your Highness, it's already been prepared."

"Then present it."

"Yes"

After giving the order, Zhu Biao looked at Lu and spoke in a gentler tone:
"Let's have dinner together. There will be a banquet in the palace tonight to celebrate the army's return to the south. Then..."

At this point, Zhu Biao suddenly paused.
I was troubled again. It was not appropriate to take care of either of the two children. They would both neglect others.
If you bring both, what just happened will definitely happen.

And if neither of them is brought, those soldiers will definitely make noise after drinking some alcohol.

For a moment, Zhu Biao's face showed worry and he sighed heavily.

Crown Princess Lu forced a smile and said softly:
"The teacher has some homework to do today, so I will not go to the dinner party. I will stay at home to urge Yunwen.
Your Highness, please take Yunxun with you. Some uncles and aunts in the army will definitely want to see him."

Zhu Biao's expression calmed down and he nodded gently:
"Then I'll have someone send some food from the palace to share in the good cheer."

"I'll do as Your Highness says." Mrs. Lu lowered her head slightly, looking sad.

Not far away, Lan Yu had already brought Zhu Yunhuan back to the study.

Lan Yu put Zhu Yunhuan on the ground with a chuckle and said to him:
"Granduncle is going to show you something good, okay?"

"Okay!" Zhu Yunhuan nodded repeatedly.

Soon, Lan Yu took out the improved horseshoe.

Then he took Zhu Yunhuan's hand and put the horseshoe in it:
"Come, have a look, this is what my great uncle used in war. It's nailed to the horse's hooves, and the warhorse makes a clattering sound when it runs."

Zhu Yunhuan held the horseshoe tightly with his little hands, with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
Especially when I touched the long nail, a trace of fear flashed through my mind:
"Uncle, doesn't the horse feel any pain?"

Lan Yu was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter again:
"The horse doesn't feel pain, but my great uncle led his men to the north to fight with the grassland people. Only when the enemy's knife cuts on the body will it hurt."

"Is it in pain, uncle?" Zhu Yunhuan's eyes were full of confusion.

Lan Yu's heart melted, and she touched Zhu Yunhuan's head:

"It doesn't hurt. The enemy can't cut it. Tonight, my uncle will take Hu'er to the palace to meet the grandfathers and play with the big sword, okay?"

Zhu Yunxun's eyes suddenly lit up:
"Okay, I want to meet Heihei's grandfather. He has two knives."

"Okay, okay, let's go eat first. After your uncle and you finish your homework in the afternoon, I will take you to the palace."

(End of this chapter)