Chapter 007 The Chen family is not destined to be emperor
Comrade Chen Guorui's Biaoer was almost fainted by Chen Guorui's anger.
What are you excited about? What are you excited about?
Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor because it was destiny. What does it have to do with you, Chen Guorui?
You threw me! You threw me and didn't catch me, and you threw me on the bed!
If I hadn't piled soft pillows and a small quilt on the bed, I would have definitely fallen and gotten hurt!
Chen Biao was so angry that he picked up the pillow and beat his father.
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed as he was beaten: "If Marshal Zhu can become emperor, we can become high officials, and maybe even be granted a title. Isn't this worth celebrating?"
Chen Biao was so angry that he couldn't catch his breath and almost got a stitch in the side.
He truly didn't understand the ancients' way of thinking! So, was the idea of loyalty to the emperor so terrifying? Huh? Would your general be happier to be emperor than you would be?
I am convinced. I am completely convinced.
From this moment on, Chen Biao finally gave up the idea of pushing Comrade Chen Guorui to rebel against Zhu Yuanzhang and become the emperor himself.
My father is not capable of this. My Chen family is not so lucky.
Chen Biao sighed to the sky, and Zhu Yuanzhang poked his belly, which was even bulger because of his tilted body, while he was sighing to the sky.
Chen Biao was so angry that he kicked his father twice: "I said so much, and you only remember Zhu Yuanzhang's destiny?!"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "I remember, I remember everything."
Chen Biao slapped his father's mischievous hand: "What do you remember?!" You remember nothing!
Zhu Yuanzhang hugged his son's slender waist... no waist, and brought his son back into his arms, stroking his fur: "I really remember everything."
He cleared his throat and began to repeat what Chen Biao had said before.
From the moment Chen Biao asked him what books he had read to the moment Chen Biao said Zhu Yuanzhang had transformed into a dragon, Zhu Yuanzhang imitated every word, every pause, and even the slightly desolate and regretful tone in Chen Biao's voice that he himself didn't even notice.
When Chen Biao spoke these words, he used his soft, baby voice, swallowed his saliva after every few words, and when he spoke in a hurry, his voice would sound like a spoiled child.
The words he thought were so majestic were actually quite ridiculous when spoken by a little baby in a connoisseur's tone.
But when it came out of Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth, it was completely different.
Zhu Yuanzhang is thirty-one years old this year.
He was 24 years old when he defected to Guo Ziyi.
He started studying and practicing calligraphy only after he married Ma, when he had the money and time.
Those readers who have worked as poverty alleviation workers or community workers in later generations will certainly understand that it is particularly difficult to communicate with people with low education levels.
These people have actually been around for a long time, even becoming seasoned veterans, but their minds seem to be in a state of chaos, their horizons limited only to themselves.
Being well-versed in human relationships is important, but reading to clarify one's goals is actually more important.
What we see with our eyes is partial and superficial. Books are the crystallization of human wisdom. Travel thousands of miles and read thousands of books, so that we can achieve unity of knowledge and action.
Reading thousands of books is the skeleton, traveling thousands of miles is the flesh and blood.
If you only walk and don't read, then all your experiences will be like rootless duckweed, which will be washed away by water and nothing will be left.
Many of Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts about himself and the future began after he read books.
No one is born an emperor. Before he learned to read, Zhu Yuanzhang was just a short-sighted commoner like Zhang Shicheng and others.
It is understandable that other talented and virtuous people looked down on Zhu Yuanzhang.
They did not think that a man of Zhu Yuanzhang's background, who was still illiterate in his twenties, could have any lofty ambitions.
Zhu Yuanzhang himself is indeed a rare oddity (in a positive sense) in history and is not universal.
He started studying when he was in his mid-thirties. Although he had been in the military, he could read by lamplight at night. Even when he was riding on horseback during the day, he was "on the road, his hands never stopped reading."
In a few years, he was able to write beautiful calligraphy and even compose good poems that were praised by later generations. He also wrote the neat and parallel edict of Duke Xin for Xu Da.
So it’s no wonder that they looked down on Zhu Yuanzhang and were blind.
Chen Biao knew how illiterate his father was in the past.
When Chen Biao was holding a brush and struggling to learn the characters of that era and changing his habit of using simplified characters, his father was also holding a brush with a worried look on his face and writing big characters with him.
When Zhu Yuanzhang was away at war, he would make study plans with Chen Biao, and when Zhu Yuanzhang returned home, they would check each other's homework.
Thanks to his past life memories, Chen Biao learned much faster than Zhu Yuanzhang. Gradually, it became Zhu Yuanzhang who asked Chen Biao for help with his lessons.
Not to mention in ancient times, even in modern times, it is very rare for a father to ask his son for knowledge.
A father’s dignity cannot be trampled upon.jpg.
Zhu Yuanzhang, however, treated his short-legged, fat son who could run fast enough to roll on the ground as a teacher, and did not feel ashamed at all.
Now, Zhu Yuanzhang touched his son's head, with a faint smile in his eyes, and repeated his son's words word for word in a more cadenced voice than Chen Biao.
Chen Biao suddenly discovered that his stupid and illiterate father seemed to have become a little bit powerful.
When his father repeated these words, he actually felt a little emotional.
The depression in Chen Biao's heart disappeared as Zhu Yuanzhang repeated the last word he said.
He leaned back into Zhu Yuanzhang's arms, stretched out his short legs and sat up, saying, "Dad, you can remember everything after just one listen. That's amazing."
Zhu Yuanzhang was proud : "I am the father of a fairy boy like you, Biao'er, so of course I am powerful."
Chen Biao felt a little aggrieved again.
Yes, you are so capable, and I am so capable too, but why do you never think about going a step further and insist on being a loyal minister to Marshal Zhu?
Chen Biao said in a muffled voice: "Forget it, after hearing these words, you still want to continue to be a loyal minister to the Zhu family. What else can I say?"
Zhu Yuanzhang scratched his head.
My son, what you said is not quite right. What does it mean to be a loyal minister to the Zhu family?
Uh... Could it be that my son wants me to rebel against Zhu Yuanzhang and become emperor myself?!
Zhu Yuanzhang looked down at his fat son in his arms, who looked very aggrieved, and felt extremely guilty.
When my son finds out that I am Zhu Yuanzhang, will he be so angry that he will kill me with a sword?
It’s not possible, it’s not possible. My son Biao is very filial, how could he do such a thing as killing his father?
Zhu Yuanzhang patted Chen Biao's head and said, "Biao'er, don't worry. You've seen that Marshal Zhu is still a good Marshal now. With our assistance, Marshal Zhu will definitely not become like that in the future. I will tell the Marshal now that we will start a pilot program in Yangzhou to grant land to women. If the response is good, we will expand it to all the places we occupy."
Chen Biao no longer had any hope for his father: "As long as you are happy. By the way, does our Chen family have any good-looking women? You must not bring any of the Chen family women to the Marshal. Others are trying to sneak women into the Marshal's backyard to whisper in his ears, but you are not allowed to do that."
Zhu Yuanzhang was at a loss for words. "Do you still remember the human sacrifice? Don't worry, I will definitely advise the Marshal to abolish it. How can we use the cruel system of the Yuan Dynasty? Old Xu, Old Tang and I are from the same hometown as the Marshal, so we have a lot of say."
Chen Biao was even more speechless.
Childhood friends, childhood friends are good, but childhood friends are even better at being chopped off.
Okay, I need to hide my things now. By the time the Ming Dynasty is established, I'll probably be able to travel around. By then, I'll buy some estates and land overseas to leave a way out for my family.
Chen Biao no longer has any hope that his father will be able to rise again.
His big dream had been shattered, so he could only pick up his small dream, that is, to go out to sea with his family and become a small landowner, and be content with a small fortune.
Seeing Chen Biao still looking depressed, Zhu Yuanzhang continued to explain, "I've thought about the issue of burial alive you mentioned. From what I know about the Marshal, if he really becomes emperor in the future, he must be burying his concubines with him to prevent them from influencing the new emperor, right? But the Marshal's eldest son is growing up and is a very capable child. With such an heir, the Marshal will certainly not do anything that undermines benevolence and righteousness. Isn't this just setting a trap for his heir?"
Chen Biao: “…Oh.”
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Besides, there is Madam Ma here. Madam Ma will definitely persuade the Marshal."
Chen Biao looked up at his overly naive father, " Oh. What if Madam Ma died young?"
Zhu Yuanzhang: "...Biao'er, what did you say?"
Chen Biao climbed up from Zhu Yuanzhang's arms, slowly put on his shoes and got out of bed: "Nothing."
Zhu Yuanzhang quickly grasped his son's armpits and lifted him up: "Biao'er! This is not a joke! Talk to your father clearly? No, wait, is this something you can talk about? Can you even talk about something in the future? Will God punish you?"
Chen Biao, shaken by Zhu Yuanzhang, said, "If he died of illness, even if you tell me, the future won't change. There shouldn't be anything you can't say. It's still early, why talk about this now... Oh, stop shaking, I'm dizzy."
"It's still early. How early is still early? " Zhu Yuanzhang was very nervous.
Chen Biao rolled his eyes. "How should I know? Anyway, it must be earlier than Marshal Zhu. Since you are determined to follow Zhu Yuanzhang, then follow him. I will not speak ill of the Marshal in front of you anymore."
Seeing that Chen Biao refused to speak, Zhu Yuanzhang put his son down and frowned.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's gloomy face, Chen Biao said speechlessly, "Why do you care so much? It's still early. After Zhu Yuanzhang becomes emperor, it won't be too late for us to find another way."
Although Chen Biao knew nothing about the specific timeline of Ming Dynasty history, Empress Ma must have lived for a long time after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise there would not be the folk story that Empress Ma persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang to let the prince's tutor go after the Hu Weiyong case.
As long as Empress Ma is alive and his father doesn't follow Hu Weiyong, there shouldn't be any big problems.
As for what happens next, we can wait until he grows up and then slowly plan for the family.
Zhu Yuanzhang said awkwardly, "Well, well, it's still early, still early."
My wife died of illness before me? Should I have let her continue to work hard in the army? Zhu Yuanzhang was torn between two thoughts.
Zhu Yuanzhang had long known that Ma's health was worse than his.
However, when Chen Biao showed his ability as a fairy boy, he carefully took care of Ma's health. Even when Ma was with the army, she followed Chen Biao's prescriptions for eating and exercising, and her health improved a lot.
Until now, Zhu Yuanzhang still found it difficult to accept that Ma would die before him.
But if I die before my wife, she will be sad too. It would be best if we could hold hands and close our eyes together, Zhu Yuanzhang thought gloomily.
"Dad, aren't you going to prepare for Yangzhou?" Chen Biao jumped on the ground and stretched his muscles. "I'm going to see mom and brother. You hurry up and get back to work."
Chen Biao had a very clear vision for his children. He could offer advice to his father and act as the head of the family, but the actual execution still had to be done by his father.
First, he was a growing child and could not afford to be tired; second, he did not understand the ways of the world, and the specific work needed to be done by someone more experienced; third, although he was known as a child prodigy at home, it was only known at home. As long as he did not show up in public and had no reputation outside, he might not arouse Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicion.
possible.
His father said that this would prevent Zhu Yuanzhang from finding out, so that was fine. He had to trust his father sometimes.
"Oh, oh." Zhu Yuanzhang came back to his senses and picked up his son who had just come out of the ground. "Let's go and see it together. Oh, Biao'er, give me the book you annotated. I need to read it on the way."
Zhu Yuanzhang was already accustomed to reading the books his son had read, and his son's annotations were much more interesting than those of the scholars under his command.
Chen Biao said, "The books at the bottom of the shelf are the ones I'm not going to read right now. Dad, go get them yourself. Don't ask me."
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I still have to ask you, what if you haven't finished reading it?"
Chen Biao hugged Zhu Yuanzhang's neck: "Oh, okay."
A good father who respects his son, rub.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt the soft touch of his son's cheek and crushed the candy in his mouth and swallowed it.
Sweet .
His fluctuating mood finally came to a conclusion.
After carrying Chen Biao to meet Ma who was accompanying his two sons, Zhu Yuanzhang left Chen Biao to Ma and went to the study to get a book.
When he took the book, he found Chen Biao's study in a mess and Zhu Wenying was cleaning it up.
Zhu Yuanzhang's expression immediately changed: "Biao'er's study was robbed?!"
Zhu Wenying said helplessly: "Brother Biao's study has been destroyed."
Zhu Yuanzhang: "...this brat! How dare he come to Biao'er's study and make trouble!"
As Zhu Wenying cleaned up, she pleaded with Chen Chong, "Chong'er has already been beaten by his adoptive mother. You don't have to beat him again, adoptive father."
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, squatted on the ground, and cleaned up with Zhu Wenying.
Chen Chong was only one year younger than Chen Biao, but he was much stronger than Chen Biao, which was very similar to Zhu Yuanzhang.
He came to the study to make trouble, shook the bookshelf, and actually shook the books down.
Chen Biao didn't know about this yet. When he found out, he was terrified. The book was a small matter, but Chen Chong's injury was a big deal.
So Chen Chong received his second punishment: he was made to memorize his lessons, and was not allowed to eat snacks until he finished. Chen Biao also had someone nail the bookshelf to the wall.
"Biao'er said he's finished reading all the books in the bottom row... Fortunately, the books at the bottom are not messed up." Zhu Yuanzhang pulled out the books from the bottom of the bookshelf with his butt sticking out. He flipped through the contents one by one and found the book he wanted to read recently. "What is this?"
Zhu Yuanzhang saw a book with no title on the cover, inserted diagonally in the last row of books.
When he opened the blank cover, Zhu Yuanzhang was surprised to see that the book was entirely written by Chen Biao.
A book handwritten by Biaoer?
Thinking that the book handwritten by his own son must be worth reading carefully, Zhu Yuanzhang stuffed the book with a blank cover into the pile of books he wanted to borrow.
"Okay, that's all we'll take this time...Ah?! Who put bones in Biao'er's study?!" Zhu Yuanzhang, a general who was used to seeing dead people, actually jumped in shock.
Of course, he was not scared by the bones, but by the fact that there were human bones in his beloved son's study.
Zhu Wenying stood on tiptoe, put away the top row of books, and turned to look at the bones that Zhu Yuanzhang was pointing at.
He picked it up and fiddled with it. "It's carved from wood. But the model is indeed made from a human foot bone. Biao'er wants to use this to urge the women in the village to stop foot binding. There are many more scholars in Yingtian Prefecture now, and they look at women with big feet with disgust, as if big feet are a sin. This has caused some people in the village to start binding their daughters' feet."
Zhu Wenying opened the desk drawer and took out another foot bone model. "This is the foot bone of a normal woman, and this is the foot bone of a woman with bound feet. When I found these two bones for Biao'er from the mass grave, I almost vomited. I'm afraid I won't be able to get close to women with bound feet in the future."
Zhu Yuanzhang curiously took the two foot bone models from Zhu Wenying's hands.
The foot bone model is very delicate and the joints can even move.
Compared with the foot bones of normal women, the foot bones of women with bound feet are mostly broken and stuck together randomly, which makes people's scalps numb.
Zhu Wenying sighed, "Biao'er, scholars always say that we are given our hair and skin by our parents, and even shaving our hair and beard can be considered a punishment. But aren't women human? Aren't women given their hair and skin by their parents? Who on earth would have the idea to do such a cruel thing as breaking and shattering a woman's foot bones and gluing the flesh together just to make them smaller?"
Zhu Yuanzhang thought of the history books he had read about the Song Dynasty. The Red Turban Army revered the Han and Song dynasties, and Zhu Yuanzhang followed suit, starting his history reading with the Song dynasty.
Before, he envied the elegant demeanor of the scholars in the Song Dynasty, but now, looking at this three-inch golden lotus bone model, he felt a little disgusted.
"It should have started in the Northern Song court," Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly. "The Northern Song emperors loved small feet, and foot binding began among court ladies. Later, noble women in the Northern Song took pride in foot binding. Su Shi's 'Bodhisattva Ode to the Feet' is hailed as the first poem dedicated to small feet. He was the trendsetter among the literati of the time, and it's clear that literati loved small feet."
Zhu Wenying asked, "After the Northern Song Dynasty moved south, did the custom of foot binding come with it? Fortunately, foot binding wasn't popular in the grain-producing areas yet. If all women had their feet bound, and men were away fighting, wouldn't women and children all starve to death at home?"
Zhu Yuanzhang put down the foot bone model and said calmly, "Yes."
Zhu Wenying tidied up the bookshelf and asked, "Godfather, do you need any more books? I'll help you put them away."
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "That's enough. Write down the title of the book and send it to Biao'er."
Zhu Wenying said, "Okay... Hey? Why is there a book without a title?"
He opened the book and copied down the words on the title page - "Marxist Philosophy".
