Chapter 006 I am the only one who understands Zhu Yuanzhang best
Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his hands and said, "Biao'er."
Sitting on the couch, Chen Biao twisted his butt and turned his back to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang continued to rub his hands: "Biao'er."
Chen Biao pounced on the couch and buried his head in the quilt, leaving only his butt exposed, like a little kitten deceiving itself.
Zhu Yuanzhang patted Chen Biao's raised butt and said, "Biao'er, help Dad. Dad boasted in front of the Marshal and issued a military order..."
Chen Biao, who was wearing a red bellyband embroidered by his mother, was so angry that he crawled out from under the quilt and bit Zhu Yuanzhang's big palm.
Zhu Yuanzhang patted his puppy son and asked, "Why are you still biting me?"
Chen Biao muttered, "It's just that my teeth are itching. Dad, you want to piss me off to death."
Hitting him couldn't break his father's defense, and his fists hurt. He was helpless because his only teeth could hurt his father.
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately said, "Don't say 'death', it's unlucky."
Chen Biao complained, "You're always issuing military orders. Is that auspicious?"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled awkwardly. Seeing Chen Biao so angry, he also felt that it was not good to trouble his son out of spite.
"I'll go back and talk to the Marshal. I'll forget about the scolding." Zhu Yuanzhang said nonchalantly, "Anyway, I only signed the military order verbally with the Marshal in private. He must not take it seriously."
Although Chen Biao was dissatisfied and complaining, he stopped himself immediately after his father said this: "Don't! Once the military order is issued, it must be completed. If he doesn't punish you now, he will punish you later!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was at a loss for words: "The Marshal is not one to settle accounts afterward."
Chen Biao patted his chest and said, "Dad, believe me. I am a fairy boy. Do you know Marshal Zhu better than I do?"
Zhu Yuanzhang: "...You understand, you understand best."
Zhu Yuanzhang also climbed onto the couch and lay down, holding his fat son in his arms and squeezing him hard.
Chen Biao patted Zhu Yuanzhang's thigh, but was dissatisfied with the hardness of Zhu Yuanzhang's thigh muscles, so he dragged a small cotton cushion and made a nest on Zhu Yuanzhang's legs. Then he lay comfortably on Zhu Yuanzhang's chest, hugging his little arms and thinking about the affairs in Yangzhou.
He had known that his father was a loyal, honest and overly kind-hearted fool, but he had never expected that his foolish father would be so stupid as to take on such a big trouble in Yangzhou just to kill Zhang Mingjian.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't like the gentry in Jiangnan, so his father went to the border to issue a military order. How could he revitalize Yangzhou without asking for help from the gentry in Jiangnan?
Things are either impossible to do or very troublesome.
Thinking of Jiangnan, Chen Biao couldn't help but make a bitter face and sighed in a stern manner: "Marshal Zhu is now so openly guarding against the gentry in Jiangnan. He will definitely be blackened by the pens of scholars in the future."
Zhu Yuanzhang pinched his son's chubby cheek nonchalantly: "Oh. My... Marshal is as black as charcoal."
Chen Biao hugged his short arms and threw a pair of sanitary balls to his father: "Can it be darker than you?"
Every time his father came back from a war, it was so dark that he didn't need to wear a nightgown to be a thief.
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Almost."
Chen Biao said: "That's quite dark."
The father and son chatted for a while. Zhu Yuanzhang continued to knead his fat son's face and rub his fat son's head, while Chen Biao held his short arms and continued to think.
Chen Biao said, "The biggest problem in Yangzhou City is that it has no people. Nowadays, ordinary people in Jiangnan are basically dependent on the Jiangnan gentry. If they don't send people, my Chen family can't provide so many people. We can only rely on soldiers."
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "My Red Turban Army is a combination of military and civilians. When we arrive in Yangzhou, we will cultivate land."
Chen Biao said, "The military settlements and civilian settlements must be separated. However, the military settlements alone cannot support the scale of Yangzhou. Is Zhang Mingjian really doomed?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's expression was sinister for a moment, then he snorted and laughed, "Of course he'll die. I hope he's tough enough to die in battle."
Otherwise, I will cut him into pieces with my own hands!
Chen Biao asked, "What about the remaining Qing troops?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly, "The Marshal meant to dig a pit and bury them all, to accompany the Yangzhou people who were eaten."
Chen Biao was not frightened by the bloody tone in Zhu Yuanzhang's words, and said calmly: "I remember that the Marshal does not kill prisoners easily."
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "It is not that we will not kill them lightly, but it is also that we will not kill them. If these people stay, they will definitely cause greater disasters in the future."
Chen Biao sighed, "The Marshal has only about 100,000 combat-capable men under his command. The Green Army number closer to 20,000. Is the Marshal worried that these 20,000 Green Army soldiers, if dispersed and joined the army, will disrupt the discipline that the Red Turban Army has worked so hard to improve?"
Zhu Yuanzhang touched Chen Biao's head and said: "My son is really smart."
Chen Biao said, "But the Marshal's career has just started to take off. Killing so many prisoners of war will be a huge blow to his reputation. It will be difficult for him to recruit generals or recruit hidden talents in the future."
Zhu Yuanzhang thought of the "Four Masters of Eastern Zhejiang" and his face darkened: "If you don't come, then don't come!"
Chen Biao laughed: "Dad, you can't be so straightforward. The Marshal must be having a headache right now. Go and persuade him to spare these people's lives and give him a ladder."
Zhu Yuanzhang muttered, "No!"
Chen Biao turned around and punched his father's stomach with his little fist: "Go! Killing them isn't the only way to punish them."
He didn't want to bite anyone, so he could only punch his father in the stomach. Although it might not hurt his father, at least his hands wouldn't hurt.
Zhu Yuanzhang held his belly high and let Chen Biao hit him as he pleased: "Biao'er, what do you say we should do?"
Chen Biao said, "Let the living people in the city and the lower-level soldiers testify against the crimes of those generals. Behead the generals who committed the most heinous crimes and erect a monument in Yangzhou to commemorate this incident, so that they will be infamous for eternity. The remaining Qing soldiers will stay in Yangzhou to do hard labor and rebuild the city. The hard labor will be used to pay for their crimes. If they do a good job, they can be given early commutation of sentence. Let the Marshal gather people to decide on the specific method. The Marshal has so many people under his command, we can't just be the two of us doing the thinking."
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment, then reluctantly said, "Well, we're short of people now. Can we rely on them to revitalize Yangzhou?"
Chen Biao said, "Of course not. The Marshal has little territory and an even smaller population, so even the current land can't be fully cultivated. I do have a way to free up more manpower, but the Marshal will definitely not agree."
Zhu Yuanzhang was puzzled: "Why?"
Chen Biao leaned over his father's shoulder and whispered in his father's ear, "My plan is to follow the example of the Han and Tang dynasties, where land was distributed equally among women, widows were encouraged to remarry, and foot binding was banned. But Marshal Zhu is notorious for his dislike of women. If you dare to suggest allowing women to work in public, he will definitely chop you down."
Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless: "Your mother...your mother and the Marshal's wife are allowed to show their faces in public. What nonsense are you talking about? Didn't the Marshal just order that the women looted by the army be returned home, and the homeless be given money and food to remarry? In this chaotic world, there are many widows raising children. If women are not allowed to remarry and are not allowed to show their faces in public, won't the whole family just starve to death?"
Chen Biao was puzzled: "Yes, I am also confused. Why would the Marshal forbid widows from remarrying and forbid women from showing their faces in public?"
In feudal society, talking about the status of women by rulers is like playing the lute to a cow. The cow will kick you to death.
But this doesn't make sense from a profit perspective.
After a chaotic era, the most important thing to establish a new dynasty is to restore the population. In feudal society, population is the foundation of everything.
In order to restore the population in the early Han Dynasty, it was stipulated that if a woman did not marry after the age limit or a widow did not remarry after being widowed for several years, her father and brothers would be punished.
In order to have a sufficient population, Cao Cao would send people to take away his wives and daughters of childbearing age and remarry them as soon as his soldiers set out to fight, so that they could have children without any problems.
The same feudal society persecuted women, but the Han Dynasty and Cao Cao were at least profitable and the logic behind it could be understood.
Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming dynasty was built on ruins, with vast swathes of land left empty and uncultivated. He should have followed the example of the early Han and Tang dynasties and implemented the equal-field system while land was plentiful, distributing more land to civilians, including women.
Although the nobles and powerful families will certainly try every possible means to annex land later, the more land is divided in the early stage, the faster a dynasty will recover and the longer the prosperous period will last.
Not only did Zhu Yuanzhang not grant land to women, but he also issued regulations in the first year of Hongwu to commend heroic and chaste women and restrict women from remarrying.
Afterwards, in order to obtain rewards, the women’s families and husband’s families often forced widowed women to commit suicide, and women who were not forced to commit suicide were not allowed to go out to farm or work.
Ordinary people were even more strapped for cash, and child mortality was extremely high. Without rapid population growth, the Ming Dynasty's recovery was much more difficult than in previous dynasties.
Could Zhu Yuanzhang’s misogyny be more important than the Ming Dynasty?
Not to mention Chen Biao, even Zhu Yuanzhang himself didn't understand.
He himself was a poor man and knew very well that if women were prohibited from remarrying, a poor boy like him would hardly be able to find a wife in the future.
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned: "Biao'er, don't listen to nonsense, the Marshal has never done these things."
Zhu Yuanzhang's policies towards women were indeed quite normal, in line with the normal state of a powerful feudal lord, such as encouraging women to farm and weave, encouraging women to unbind their feet, and encouraging widows to remarry.
Men were all fighting in the war, and women were not farming or weaving. What food and clothes did Zhu Yuanzhang's soldiers eat and wear?
When Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Yuan Dadu in the future, he released the women in Yuan Dadu's harem and encouraged them to remarry. He was completely different from the person he was in the first year of Hongwu.
Chen Biao is still young and hardly ever leaves the house. All the information is collected for him by his family.
Through the information he collected, he also knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was still quite normal.
He scratched his head. "He doesn't have it now? But he will be like this in the future."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned: "The future..."
He knew that his son was a divine boy and would occasionally speak of things about the future.
Zhu Yuanzhang often told fortunes. When he was a monk, he pretended to be a fortune teller and told people's fortunes, so he knew some of the rules of fortune-telling.
The most important rule of fortune-telling is not to intentionally reveal secrets. Accidentally revealing them is fine, but intentionally observing the future will undoubtedly lead to punishment, and the future will be altered.
The purpose of observing the future is to avoid misfortune and seek good fortune, but of course the future will change.
So Chen Biao seemed to be able to glimpse some future events. Zhu Yuanzhang never took the initiative to ask, but only thought about how to use these future events when Chen Biao let something slip.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not think that he was a person who would act on emotion, and such a person could not become the leader of a region.
Why would he do something so harmful in the future? He's not a pedantic scholar, so why would he care about whether others are chaste or not... Wait, a pedantic scholar?
Zhu Yuanzhang thought of a recent incident and guessed why he would do this in the future.
He stroked the small tuft of hair on his son's head and said, "Recently, the civil officials under the Marshal have been asking him to quickly find a powerful ancestor to elevate his background. You know, because the Marshal was a farmer, a monk, and a beggar, those talented people are unwilling to join him. The ancestor they chose for the Marshal is Zhu Xi."
Chen Biao looked up and asked, "Is Zhu Xi worthy of this?"
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed: "Isn't Zhu Xi half a saint? Why is he not worthy?"
Chen Biao asked, "How saintly is he?"
Zhu Yuanzhang wasn't well-read at the moment. He was currently studying history and hadn't had time to read Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. He only knew that Master Zhu was very famous. He stammered, "At least it's better than the Marshal's current background, right?"
Chen Biao said angrily, "You mean, if the Marshal recognizes Zhu Xi as his ancestor, he will vigorously support the old ancestor's knowledge so that it can become a prominent school of thought at the time and make the old ancestor a sage like Confucius, so as to elevate his own status and gain more support from scholars?"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded vigorously: "Combining the pros and cons, this is the most likely possibility."
Chen Biao continued angrily, "He later ordered all the women in the harem to be buried alive with the dead, bringing back the old practice of human sacrifice that had already been banned during the Zhou and Han dynasties. Was this also Zhu Xi's teaching?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded: "Ah? What? What about human sacrifice?"
Chen Biao said, "Okay, stop making excuses for him. Your Marshal Zhu is such a cruel man. You always speak well of him, as if he is such a benevolent monarch. Dad, clear your mind a little. I know you are loyal and honest. Marshal Zhu has been kind to you, so you threw your heart into him. But people can change."
Chen Biao said so much to his father, and he was indeed a little angry about his father's military order.
As a time traveler who understands the cannibalistic nature of feudal society, Chen Biao certainly knows that no matter how high an official position he holds, it is not as good as being an emperor, especially an official of the Hongwu Emperor. Today he may be nice to you, but tomorrow he may be beheaded just because he enters the door with his left foot first.
Unfortunately, Chen Biao looked at his own small arms and legs. By the time he grew up enough to rebel, Zhu Yuanzhang had already been emperor for several years.
Rebelling against the Hongwu Emperor right after the Ming Dynasty was established? This was probably a repeat of the classic battle between the time traveler Wang Mang and the son of the plane, Liu Xiu. He wouldn't have enough lives to waste.
So Chen Biao once set his sights on his own father.
Our father Chen Guorui is also a military general, and I am a little god of wealth. Maybe we can take advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang when he and Chen Youliang are fighting, kill him, and make ourselves kings.
You, Zhu the Beggar, can sit on this throne, so why can't I, Chen Haoshang , sit on it?
Chen Biao wanted Chen Guorui to rebel against Zhu Yuanzhang and work alone, but of course he didn't say it directly.
Being beaten up by Chen Guorui is nothing, the key is that Old Chen is a fool who speaks his mind and can't hide anything.
Chen Biao told him directly that he was plotting a rebellion. Even if Chen Guorui did not want to rebel in his heart, he would probably look guilty and uneasy when facing Zhu Yuanzhang.
Who was Zhu Yuanzhang? He was a paranoid old lunatic.
Even if he wasn't old now, he was certainly already extremely suspicious. If Chen Guorui's expression changed, Zhu Yuanzhang would surely become wary. By then, his family wouldn't likely live to see the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and would be murdered by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Therefore, Chen Biao only subtly increased Chen Guorui's distrust of Zhu Yuanzhang. Even if Chen Guorui did not rebel, at least he should not be as careless as he is now towards Zhu Yuanzhang.
But he had been subtly influencing Chen Guorui for several years. What did Chen Guorui do? In order to establish a good reputation for Zhu Yuanzhang, he issued a military order!
This made Chen Biao very angry.
What does Zhu Yuanzhang's reputation have to do with you, Chen Guorui? Zhu Yuanzhang hated the gentry in Jiangnan, but what does that have to do with you, Chen Guorui?
Maybe if I have a younger sister in the future, she might enter Zhu Yuanzhang's harem, or the rear quarters of Zhu Yuanzhang's sons, and be forced to be buried alive with him!
You are loyal to Zhu Yuanzhang, but Zhu Yuanzhang will not treat you well!
Chen Biao was almost mad. How could he have such a foolish father?
But the more foolish his father is, the more he can't let go.
Chen Biao considers himself to have a flexible moral compass, but at least he has a conscience. He gravitates toward those with strong moral compasses, and can't help but want to help them .
Moreover, if his father was not an honest man, a child prodigy like him who made so many mistakes would either be burned to death as a monster or be worshipped and exploited by his family... Well, it seems that he is being exploited now.
The more Chen Biao thought about it , the angrier he became, and he scratched Zhu Yuanzhang's arm as if it were a cat scratching board.
Zhu Yuanzhang had long known that Chen Biao was very resistant to "Marshal Zhu".
He originally thought that his daughter Biaoer's resistance to "Marshal Zhu" was because he had accidentally thrown too much blame on "Marshal Zhu".
But now he discovered that Chen Biao's prejudice against "Marshal Zhu" seemed to have nothing to do with him throwing the blame, but rather that he believed from the bottom of his heart that "Marshal Zhu" would kill their family.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very depressed.
What kind of strange impression did he leave on his son? He couldn't imagine himself doing something like that, even if he racked his brains.
Well, if he recognized Zhu Xi as his ancestor, it might really improve the status of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.
But what about burying people alive with their dead? Burials alive with their dead were a practice revived by the Yuan Dynasty. When Genghis Khan died, he not only buried those around him with his dead, but also beheaded anyone he saw during his funeral procession, including passersby. He hated the Yuan Dynasty the most, so why would he adopt the Yuan Dynasty's practice of burying people alive with their dead?
Zhu Yuanzhang said awkwardly, "Biao'er, do you have any prejudice against Marshal Zhu? I understand, I understand. Marshal Zhu comes from a humble background. He was almost illiterate before joining the army, and now he's no more educated than any random scholar on the street. He's been a monk, a beggar, and a soldier. People outside say he's a ruffian with a brutal personality. Those with good education refuse to join him, and those with high moral standards always dislike him. Others can openly reveal their ancestors, but Marshal's ancestors were all poor peasants, so he can only shamelessly acknowledge Master Zhu..."
Zhu Yuanzhang was halfway through his words when Chen Biao took out a piece of hard candy wrapped in paper from the small pocket in front of his bellyband, tore off the candy wrapper, and stuffed the candy into his father's mouth.
Zhu Yuanzhang sipped the candy and blinked in confusion.
Chen Biao said angrily, "Dad, please shut up. If you spread this, our whole family will be finished."
Zhu Yuanzhang hung his head, his expression even more depressed.
He sipped the candy and said, "Biao'er, do you also think that Marshal Zhu, who was born a beggar, is not worthy of being an emperor?"
Chen Biao stood on Zhu Yuanzhang's thigh, stretched his arms as far as he could, clenched his fist and knocked on his father's forehead: "Marshal Zhu's accession to the throne is legitimate, unprecedented in history."
Zhu Yuanzhang widened his eyes in surprise.
My son is praising me?! Did I hear it wrong?!
Seeing his father's eyes widen, Chen Biao thought he didn't understand, so he explained in a muffled voice, "Dad, you're studying now, right? I remember the first book you read was history."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded vigorously.
He studies so hard! He studies late into the night every day!
Chen Biao sighed. "The sages of the pre-Qin period said, 'The people are more important than the emperor, and the people can carry a boat, but they can also overturn it.' Didn't the sages know that, in reality, the emperor's life is certainly more valuable than that of ordinary people? They knew, and that's why they said these words, to warn the emperor that the people should not be bullied."
"Some gentry always misinterpret the sage's meaning, saying that the 'people' refer to scholars and the gentry. They say that the 'scholars' are the elite people, and that winning the hearts of the scholars means winning the hearts of the people. In fact, this is all a lie. Dad, if you have read the ancient texts of the pre-Qin period, you will know that at that time, only those with a place of origin and who performed labor service were considered 'people'. 'People' and 'scholars' were not the same class at all."
"Looking back at history, it was the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising that sounded the horn of the Qin Dynasty's fall; it was the Yellow Turban Rebellion that sounded the death knell of the Han Dynasty; and after the prosperous Tang Dynasty survived the An Lushan Rebellion and achieved another period of prosperity, it was the Huang Chao Uprising that dealt the fatal blow. Now, it goes without saying that Marshal Zhu and you, Dad, are the Red Turban Army."
"Dad, every prosperous dynasty in history fell to the ground, and the people were the ones who could overturn it. But who ultimately became emperor? The Sima family of the Jin Dynasty was a powerful aristocratic family, the Yang family of the Sui Dynasty was a powerful aristocratic family, and the Li family of the Tang Dynasty was a powerful aristocratic family. The Song Dynasty was even more unjust, as foreign relatives seized the throne from an orphan and a widow , which was the most unjust."
"Dad, which of the emperors who established prosperous dynasties before us was not born a nobleman?"
Chen Biao touched Zhu Yuanzhang's forehead again and asked with a stern face.
Without thinking, Zhu Yuanzhang blurted out: "Liu Bang!"
Chen Biao smiled: "Yes, Liu Bang."
"During the chaotic times at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the leaders of many major powers were basically nobles of the six kingdoms. Only Liu Bang came from a humble background. He led a group of poor brothers and set out to conquer the world with only a broken iron sword."
"How similar is this to Marshal Zhu?"
"Liu Bang started out as a short-serving village headman, and Marshal Zhu started out with nothing but a broken bowl. They plunged headfirst into a chaotic world and won it. Was it because they were erudite and talented? Was it because they were virtuous and respected?"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head blankly.
These words have nothing to do with Liu Bang or himself.
Chen Biao nodded: "Well, neither. It's God's will."
Chen Biao's tone was very calm, but it sounded like a loud bell in Zhu Yuanzhang's ears, making his eardrums buzz and his heart beat like thunder.
God’s will… God’s will?!
Chen Biao wanted to carry the little short arm on his back, but his body was a little round and the little arm was too short to carry him, so he had to give up.
"Dad, you said I'm prejudiced against Marshal Zhu? Yes, I am prejudiced against him."
"God chose Liu Bang, a man of humble origins, to be emperor in order to restore order and allow the poor people of the world to live a good life for a while."
"Liu Bang did it. The Liu family produced several good emperors who loved the people and had great fortune. Even after Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, they were able to create another prosperous Eastern Han Dynasty. Now the Han Dynasty is no longer a dynasty that has died out, but a nation. You and I are both Han people!"
"Now it's Zhu Yuanzhang's turn. But what about him? He recognized Zhu Xi as his ancestor, and he accepted the principles of those powerful aristocrats. He was once weak, but after becoming strong, in order to curry favor with the scholars who represented Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, he swung his butcher knife against the even weaker ones."
"Who the hell is Zhu Xi? His Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was scoffed at by the great scholars of the Song Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty didn't take him seriously either. If it weren't for Zhu Yuanzhang's support, would he have dared to call himself a saint?!"
"The dragon slayer didn't become the Dragon Lord who protects the land, but instead became a ferocious dragon." Chen Biao took a deep breath, "He failed the destiny that chose him. So, Dad, it's not that I'm prejudiced against him, it's...ah, Dad, what are you doing?"
Zhu Yuanzhang jumped up from the bed with joy, picked up his fat son and threw him up with all his strength.
Did you hear that? My divine son said, I am the emperor by destiny!
Hey!
