First Prince of Ming Dynasty

As spring went and autumn came, something that surprised classmate Xiao Zhu happened. Li's child was born safely, and he was still a healthy boy. Although he didn't have a name, he should be the Qin King Zhu Xi in history.

However, the mother Ma Shi did not show signs of pregnancy, which is really puzzling. Could it be that I remembered it wrong, or there is something wrong with Ming history?

Or history really began to change!

Zhu Zhizhi obtained the Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicle which records that Zhu Yu, the king of Qin, and Zhu Yu, the king of Jin, were born to Concubine Li Shu.

But this Li family doesn't seem to be Concubine Li Shu either?

Xiao Zhu's little head is about to explode, and the historical records of the Ming Dynasty are a bit messy.

For example, Zhu Di, the later king of Yan, proclaimed himself emperor, and Zhu Di claimed to be the son of Empress Ma, and he was a legitimate son.

This is based on the record in the Decree of the King of Yan that Gu Yu's bandit talent is the son of his father, Emperor Taizu, Emperor Gao, the son of Empress Xiaoci Gao, the younger brother of the Crown Prince, and the elder of all kings.

In the late Ming Dynasty, He Qiaoyuan's Minshu, Tan Qian's Guoyan, National History Different Research, and Li Qingzhi's Sanyuan Notes are all recorded, based on the Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicles written by Ming Wang Zongyuan. It is indeed stated in Nanjing Taichang Temple Chronicles that Zhu Di's mother is Concubine Qi.

Xiao Zhu has given up thinking, it doesn't matter anymore, anyway, as long as he is born of Queen Ma, it is enough.

In the next seventeen years (1357), Geng Bingwen conquered Changxing, Xu Dak conquered Changzhou, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the army to capture Ningguo. Then Zhao Jizu conquered Jiangyin, Xu Dake conquered Changshu, Hu Dahai conquered Huizhou, Chang Yuchun conquered Chizhou, and Miao Daheng conquered Yangzhou.

In the nineteenth year of Zhengzheng (1359), Zhu Yuanzhang successively captured the remaining places in eastern Zhejiang. In May of that year, King Xiaoming promoted Zhu Yuanzhang to be Prime Minister Zuo of Zhongshu Province in Yitong Sansi, Jiangnan and other places. In the first month of the 21st year (1361), Zhu Yuanzhang was granted the title of Wu Guogong.

At this time, although Zhu Yuanzhang had 100,000 troops, he still occupied very little territory and was surrounded by enemies.

To the east and south is the Yuan army, to the southeast is Zhang Shicheng, and to the west is Xu Shouhui. Although they are both anti-Yuan armed forces, Zhang and Xu are hostile to each other with King Xiaoming.

However, the main force of the Red Scarf Army led by King Xiao Ming and Liu Futong in the north greatly restrained the Yuan Army, and Zhang Shicheng and Xu Shouhui were not strong enough to annex Zhu Yuanzhang.

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang is temporarily facing a good opportunity for development.

In the 20th year of Zhizheng (1360), Liu Ji was invited by Zhu Yuanzhang to Yingtian (now Nanjing) and appointed him as a counselor.

According to the situation at that time, Liu Ji proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang to avoid two-front warfare and defeat each other, which was adopted. After completing the deployment of building high walls, Zhu Yuanzhang set out to implement wide accumulation of grain.

In order to solve the food problem, in addition to mobilizing the people for production, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to implement the method of garrisoning fields, and vigorously launched military garrisoning.

In a few years, the villages were built everywhere, the treasury was full, and the army rations were sufficient. In the 20th year of Zhizheng (1360), Zhu Yuanzhang ordered not to collect zhai grain to reduce the burden on farmers. In order to accumulate grain, Zhu Yuanzhang explicitly banned alcohol, but Hu Sanshe, the son of his general Hu Dahai, violated the law with others. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Hu Sanshe to be killed after knowing about the profit from brewing wine privately.

Someone came forward and said that Hu Dahai was attacking Shaoxing at this time, and hoped that Zhu Yuanzhang could let Hu Sanshe go for Hu Dahai's sake. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and resolutely enforced military discipline, so he killed Hu Sanshe himself.

While winning the hearts of the people, Zhu Yuanzhang also continued to recruit talents, especially intellectuals. Zhu Yuanzhang also built a Lixian Hall in Yingtian to receive them.

These people played an important role in Zhu Yuanzhang's unification of the country. Zhu Yuanzhang respected Confucian scholars very much. In the eighteenth year of Zhizheng (1358), he summoned Tang Zhongshi, a Confucian scholar, and asked Emperor Han Gao, Emperor Han Guangwu, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor Taizu of Song, and Emperor Shizu of Yuan Dynasty how to pacify the world. This also shows that Zhu Yuanzhang is determined to create a new dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang established a base centered on Yingtian, with Chen Youliang in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhang Shicheng in the lower reaches, Fang Guozhen in the southeast, and Chen Youding in the south.

The goal of Fang Guozhen and Chen Youding is to protect the land and separate the regime, while Zhang Shicheng has no ambitions for the first two ends of the Yuan Dynasty; Chen Youliang is the strongest, and is the most dangerous enemy Zhu Yuanzhang encountered after he occupied Yingtian.

Chen Youliang was originally a subordinate of Xu Shouhui's general Ni Wenjun. Later, he killed Ni Wenjun, held Xu Shouhui hostage in the 20th year of Zhizheng (1360), and captured Taiping and Caishi.

So Chen Youliang thought that Yingtian was within his reach, so he killed Xu Shouhui, proclaimed himself emperor in Caishi, the country was named Han, and changed to Yuan Dayi.

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