Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

This was originally an ordinary noon.

The autumn wind is blowing and the sun is still shining.

The old crooked neck tree under the prison wall had long been forgotten by the new batch of prisoners. After the new crooked neck tree was planted in the old pit, it showed good growth under Zhu Gaoxu's persistent infusion of chemical fertilizers.

Even if you are still in the same pit, at least the new things are always better than the old ones. Right?

Jiang Xinghuo, who had only one student left, still diligently finished his lecture.

Although he has returned to the original one-on-one mode, Jiang Xinghuo occasionally misses this student who can praise him. After all, he only teaches the bearded man, and suddenly he feels that something is missing.

The days passed like this day by day, Jiang Xinghuo was still in a state of constantly eating and waiting to be released from prison, and intermittently planning to do big things.

As for what "big thing" he would do, he hadn't fully figured it out yet.

In other words, it still lacks the necessary motivation.

Why do you have to do things when you are lying down well?

Holding a piece of weed in his mouth, Jiang Xinghuo missed the cigarette, but he seemed to have forgotten the smoky feeling. Human memory is always limited, and he began to gradually forget many things.

This also gave him an idea.

How about writing a diary?

Anyway, I'm not a serious person.

As Jiang Xinghuo said before, many etiquettes that are so stubborn that they are unreasonable are actually not done for others to see, but for themselves to see so that they do not lose their original direction day after day.

Of course, so far, everything is normal.

Counting on your fingers, the days when you can be imprisoned but not imprisoned are really numbered.

It’s only been about two months?

When the jailers chatted, they said that the relevant departments of the imperial court, including the Jinyiwei, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Dali Temple, had accelerated preparations for releasing prisoners next year under the emperor's inexplicable and severe urgings.

It is said that all the prisoners can be released on the first day of the first lunar month.

The efficiency is unprecedented.

This can also be seen from the fact that in the past years, the efficiency of delaying the release of amnesty prisoners until March was due to the hard work of fishermen.

In the imperial yamen, things can't be done unless the superiors urge them, but they urge them to carry out surprise attacks. In the past year, things that could be done in ten days were piled up for twenty years in the middle. In the end, it was determined to attack the enemy in a hundred days. It's so common.

In fact, Jiang Xinghuo sometimes thinks that he feels sorry for the prisoners in the same batch.

At the beginning, he shouted "I want to die, I want to die", and he was the loudest.

As a result, the same group of people who were imprisoned are now imprisoned.

The one who screamed the most fiercely did not die.

Jiang Xinghuo was thinking a lot and watched the bearded man go away. Then Jiang Xinghuo took a weed in his mouth, patted his butt and went back to take a nap.

Zhu Gaoxu did not return to the prison area. He turned around and came to a duty room, the one where he and Li Jinglong often stayed in the past.

There was already a person waiting for him in the check-in room.

The third prince Zhu Gaosui, who was wearing a bullfight uniform and a pumpkin hammer hanging from his waist, was taking a nap on the couch. He had obviously been waiting for him for a long time.

Looking at his younger brother, Zhu Gaoxu asked impatiently: "Third brother, what did your father say? Do you agree with me to lead troops to exterminate the Jurchens in the forests of Laoshan, Liaodong?"

Hearing the sound, Zhu Gaosui, who was sitting on the couch, opened his narrow eyes, although they were still a slit.

"agree."

Just as Zhu Gaojiu was overjoyed, Zhu Gaosui said angrily: "I agree! My father wants you to stay in prison!"

Zhu Gaoxu frowned: "Why?"

"My father said that you don't need to take action to annihilate the Jurchens, because the risks are high and the rewards are small. What kind of credit is wiping out the Jurchens? It's just a tribe of tens of thousands of people hiding in the mountains and forests in winter."

"When the ice and snow melted in the spring, so many veteran generals who were accustomed to fighting led troops to encircle and suppress them. In a few months, the Jurchens were completely wiped out. Maybe there were still some hiding in the deep streams of the old forest. Without the tribal system, there is really no difference between giving birth to a girl like a savage."

"Moreover, if you are unfortunately killed in battle, how much shock will there be in the army? Therefore, my father will not allow you to lead troops on the expedition."

Zhu Gaoxu was furious immediately.

"fart!"

"Everything you say is fucking bullshit. When I was in trouble, Daoshan and Volcano came here for the old man. Now you are telling me not to let me go to the battlefield?"

"Why don't generals go to the battlefield? Am I a person who is afraid of death?"

"To put it bluntly, it just allows me to put aside my thoughts of fighting for the heir apparent and just be a peaceful prince, right?"

"Don't even think about it!"

The furious Zhu Gaoxu grabbed a chair and threw it to the ground, smashing it to pieces.

"Do you have to listen to the truth?"

Seeing this, Zhu Gaosui also sneered: "Do you think I haven't persuaded my father in private? Let me tell you, you are listening to your class in the prison, and there are countless people outside helping you move around, Qi Guogong, Cheng Guo Which one of you, the prince or the king’s consort, hasn’t been running around asking for a job for you?”

"Then what do you mean by the emperor?" Zhu Gaoxu walked around in the check-in room extremely irritably.

"Originally, I intended to let you go, but in fact, because of the matter of establishing a heir apparent and competing for the crown prince, the relationship between you and your eldest brother has already been at loggerheads. Of course, the group of civil servants who support your eldest brother do not trust you to make new achievements, so they all admonished you. Father was shaken." Zhu Gaosui said slowly.

"That's not enough reason."

Zhu Gaosui said simply: "Marquis Zhenyuan doesn't want to take you with me, for fear that you will be reckless and cause trouble."

Zhu Gaojiu was silent for a moment, and then his face turned very ugly. Gu Cheng had a better relationship with Zhu Gaochi, but had a very bad relationship with him.

But according to Zhu Gaoxu's understanding of his father Zhu Di, these reasons are still not enough.

Zhu Gaoxu is very clear about his strengths and weaknesses.

Compared with his eldest brother Zhu Gaochi, his only huge advantage lies in military merit.

Zhu Gaochi was fat and lame, so he could not go to the battlefield.

And it was precisely because of his dazzling military exploits in the Battle of Jingnan that he had a temporary lead in the battle to establish the throne.

But this weak lead will soon be wiped out by the big brother as time goes by.

Because Zhu Gaoxu doesn't know how to govern the country.

To bring peace to the world, use military generals, and to bring peace to the world, use civil servants.

Talents who can mount a horse to kill people and dismount to care for the people are another matter.

What's more important is that if other generals don't fight, they can rest on their laurels for the rest of their lives.

If he, Zhu Gaoxu, does not fight and cannot achieve new military exploits, then he can only become Prince Taiping, and "Taiping" is only valid while Zhu Di is alive.

Zhu Gaoxu is certainly not a person who likes to leave his destiny to the mercy of others.

What's more, competing for the crown prince means competing for the throne.

The opportunity is right in front of you, half a step away!

Who else wouldn't want to be the emperor?

If you can be an emperor, why should you become a prince?

This is the greatest interest in the world, and no one can give it up easily. It can only be dissuaded by a few words.

And his father, Zhu Di, obviously favored him more and hoped that he would become the prince.

Zhu Gaoxu was very sure of this feeling.

Originally, Zhu Gaoxu had been in prison for several months, but his restless and violent temper could no longer be restrained.

If Mr. Jiang hadn't told it so interestingly, he wouldn't have been able to persist.

But now that he had learned that his father was planning to attack the Jurchens, Zhu Gaoxu, who was very eager to make new achievements to increase his bargaining chip in the dispute over the throne, could no longer restrain his eagerness.

——But my father didn’t allow it.

Zhu Gaoxu felt aggrieved, but there was nothing he could do about it, because he was either an emperor or an emperor, so he could make a decision with just one word, and his objections were ineffective.

But Zhu Gaoxu still felt that something was wrong.

Gu Cheng's suggestion cannot be the decisive reason.

Why doesn't his father let him go out?

My father is a very arbitrary emperor, so he must have his own considerations.

Zhu Gaoxu felt that he was not far from the truth of the matter.

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly rolled his eyes, recovered from his irritability, and said to his third brother.

"Then I will continue to stay in prison."

Zhu Gaosui looked at his second brother with slight surprise. Today's irritable state ended very quickly.

"Okay." Zhu Gaosui nodded, and then said: "Just stay well and don't get into trouble recently. I heard that my father is not in a good mood recently. There are a lot of bad things in the court, and you are in prison. Prison food can also help you avoid the limelight."

Zhu Gaoxu stood there and said, "Thank you, third brother."

"Okay, let's not talk about this, brothers." Zhu Gaosui stood up and said, "I'm leaving."

After he finished speaking, he walked out. When he reached the door, he suddenly stopped again. He turned back and said meaningfully to Zhu Gaoxu: "Staying well is the greatest contribution."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "Thank you for reminding me."

"Yes." Zhu Gaosui turned around, opened the door and walked out, closing the door of the room attendant.

Zhu Gaoxu sat in a chair and was stunned, his mind was in a mess.

He had always believed that his father favored him, so he dared to do something as stupid as "put himself in jail", which seemed stupid to others, despite the disobedience of the world.

His original plan was to express his anger and express his position, showing that he would never give in to the position of prince.

As for the imperial prison, after two months, it is considered as a way to cultivate one's moral character. Who is still staying in there all the time?

As a result, things took a turn now - the emperor actually did not agree with him to go to war, and even sent the third son to come and tell him so much.

Zhu Gaoxu was not stupid. Of course he knew that some of the words were actually spoken to him by his father through his third son.

Otherwise, given Zhu Gaosui ninety-nine courage, he would not dare to say those taboo words.

Zhu Gaoxu had never suspected something before, even though Li Jinglong once confessed to him that he was sent by Zhu Di to follow the lecture when he really couldn't hide it.

Zhu Gaoxu just believed that his father saw the point of being accepted after he proposed the strategy of reducing the vassal state.

So he followed the clues and asked Jin Yiwei to find out the existence of Jiang Xinghuo.

This may not be accurate, because when Zhu Gaoxu hired Jiang Xinghuo to give lectures, he had already asked Ji Gang to check the files.

Therefore, Ji Gang knew about this a long time ago.

As for Ji Gang's behavior in prison, if he wanted to know, he would definitely know it. In other words, his father also knew it.

It was precisely for this reason that Zhu Gaoxu was not surprised at all when Jiang Xinghuo was lost that day and his father questioned him angrily.

Because of Jiang Xinghuo's existence, his father would know about it sooner or later.

But that's nothing, it's just that his secret intention to hide Jiang Xinghuo was exposed.

If his father didn't know, it meant that his father didn't care about his life in prison, and that would make Zhu Gaoxu disappointed.

Zhu Gaoxu recalled carefully that the next thing was Li Jinglong's participation.

At the beginning, he didn't know that Li Jinglong had been arranged by his father to attend Jiang Xinghuo's lectures and record the lectures.

He found out about this on the day of the meeting.

Because on the previous day, he had written to his father three times about the Sado gold mine and Iwami silver mine in Japan.

But his father only answered him with "I know", "I have read it", and "I have read it".

At that time, Zhu Gaoxu realized something was wrong.

When he went to court the next morning, Zhu Gaoxu completely realized that Li Jinglong was the mole.

But Zhu Gaoxu had nothing to do about it. With this knowledge, his father wanted to know, could he still stop it?

My father didn't keep Jiang Xinghuo all to himself because he was afraid that if his identity was revealed, he would not be willing to tell the truth, so he had to use his relationship.

As time went by, Zhu Gaoxu gradually became accustomed to this kind of lectures in prison. When he was not listening to lectures, he would lift stone locks or read books. Well, Zhu Gaoxu began to take the initiative to read. Although he couldn't understand many times, he would write them down. , and then asked Mr. Jiang, who is half a scholar, to answer.

Although Mr. Jiang, who sometimes seemed to be omniscient in Zhu Gaoxu's eyes, actually knew little about the contents of certain ancient books, this did not prevent Jiang Xinghuo from babbling about and getting over it.

Everyone doesn’t understand, how do you know what I said is wrong?

The leisurely days passed like this day by day, but a trace of doubt always lingered in Zhu Gaoxu's heart.

its not right!

Without Li Jinglong, how did the father know the content of the lecture?

It is impossible to say that my father has completely lost interest in this.

Because Zhu Gaoxu also had his own news channels, he knew that some of the things Jiang Xinghuo said after Li Jinglong left the prison began to appear in the outside world.

The suspicion in Zhu Gaoxu's heart began to become more and more uncontrollable.

until today.

The third child meaningfully told himself, "Staying well is the greatest credit."

Why is staying well the best thing?

Is it because you don't want to cause trouble for your father?

No, I have been looking for a lot of things since I was a child, and I have never been locked up for such a long time, and I was not allowed to go out even if I wanted to.

Then, there is only one explanation!

——Father needs to stay in the prison and listen to the lectures by himself.

It doesn't matter whether you listen to the class or not. What matters is that your father wants to listen.

So, again, without Li Jinglong attending the report, how did the father know the content of the lecture when only Jiang Xinghuo lectured and he listened?

Is it possible that there are really ghosts hiding around them and eavesdropping?

Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while, picked up the pen and paper on the check-in desk, and started writing quickly.

Zhu Gaoxu's big characters are ugly, but it doesn't matter, as long as you can recognize it.

After a while, he dried the paper and shook it, then called a jailer and asked him to find Ji Gang and submit his memorial to the emperor for review by his father.

There will be no class time next.

Zhu Gaoxu stayed in prison for seven or eight days, writing new memorials almost every day and sending them to his father. They were all specious things he wrote based on his reading insights and Jiang Xinghuo's comments and interpretations. .

Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that he was creating rubbish for his father.

He did this just to verify a conjecture.

On this day, the memorial that was given the day before yesterday arrived in his hands a day later, and the content was disappointing.

"The writing is good, you can continue."

Zhu Gaoxu stared at the memorial with twinkling eyes.

It was obviously a compliment, but Zhu Gaoxu was filled with anger.

This was something he begged Jiang Xinghuo to tell him in advance.

In the past, the responses he received after Jiang Xinghuo's lectures, as well as the rubbish memorials he gave these past few days, were basically "read," "read," "got it," and "I got it."

When Zhu Di was in a bad mood, he would even write him an unrecognizable word "~~了" to make things easier for him.

The completely different attitude allowed Zhu Gaoxu to figure out the situation in which his father had the information.

Currently known.

The first situation.

The father knew the content of all lectures, whether Li Jinglong was present or not, so he would not be surprised at the memorials after his lectures, and those that applied Jiang Xinghuo's views, and would only deal with them on a daily basis.

The second situation.

The rubbish memorial he created was seen through by his father at a glance, and he would only deal with it on a daily basis.

The third situation.

And he deliberately asked Jiang Xinghuo to ask questions in an empty cell and wrote the memorial. His father had no control over it at all, so he would encourage him to continue writing.

Then the problem arises.

Li Jinglong was not present, and he and Jiang Xinghuo were the only two people under the new crooked neck tree.

Father, how on earth do you know the content of the lecture?

"Haha!" Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help laughing angrily.

There are two subtle pieces of evidence that have already aroused Zhu Gaoxu's suspicion.

One is that on the night when King Gu rebelled and his old subordinates imprisoned thousands of households, Huang Wei launched a mutiny, two unfamiliar petty officials found him and Li Jinglong.

Zhu Gaoxu was convinced that he did not know these two minor officials and had never seen them in prison.

Afterwards, when Zhu Gaoxu asked casually, he got the result that no one knew him.

At that time, Zhu Gaojiu just thought that there had been a major change in the imperial edict and that the two minor officials had been transferred to other places.

Now that I think about it, I feel that what happened that night was extremely strange.

In particular, one of the petty officials placed evidence of Huang Wei's rebellion in Jiang Xinghuo's cell.

In Jiang Xinghuo's cell, a very good final poem was written at that time.

On the other hand, the number of times Ji Gang came to show his courtesy has been significantly reduced.

Of course, Zhu Gaoxu knew that with the outbreak of the "Jiangnan Rebellion", people were already being killed outside Nanjing.

But again, if you want to make progress, is it more important to do practical things or to please the leader?

Ji Gang is obviously not the kind of person who works hard.

Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu also felt that something was wrong.

When these threads come together.

An answer is ready to come out.

——He was bugged by his father.

Thank you to the boss "Wang Daozai" for joining the alliance. I wish the boss success in everything and success every year!