Since the establishment of the Wen Dynasty, Zhu Yunwen has increased the New Year's holiday to seven days, although it has been opposed by many ministers, accusing him of neglecting state affairs, but Zhu Yunwen has insisted that it is now the third year, and slowly everyone will get used to it.

The so-called emperor has no family affairs, so even on holidays, Zhu Yunwen is busy.

On the morning of New Year's Day, hundreds of civil and military officials will enter the palace to congratulate, and the women of the court will also enter the palace to congratulate the queen and the queen mother. Staying until noon, Zhu Yunwen held a banquet in the Fengtian Hall to entertain hundreds of civil and military officials; The queen also has to set up a banquet in the harem to entertain a group of noblewomen and ladies. In the evening, the royal family banquet will be held again to celebrate New Year's Day.

In short, in the first three days of the New Year, Zhu Yunwen spent a lot of effort to entertain the princes, intending to build trust and reduce suspicion.

......

On the fourth day of the first lunar month, the weather is sunny and breezy.

In the morning, the kings received the emperor's decree and ordered him to go to the Qianqing Palace to see him. After the kings received the decree, they hurriedly followed the edict to the eunuch into the palace. As soon as they entered the palace, the kings found something unusual, from the west gate to the Qianqing Palace, there were many guards all the way, and the guards were heavily guarded. The laughter, singing, dancing and leveling of the past few days have completely disappeared, and there is a kind of supreme majesty and solemnity everywhere in the palace, and even a kind of solemn atmosphere.

Seeing this, the kings couldn't help but look at each other, a little flustered, and finally looked at Zhu Zhen, the king of Chu, who was in the lead. With the suicide of Zhu Di, the king of Yan, the deposed of Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, and the death of Zhu Li, the king of Jin, Zhu Zhen has become the eldest prince in the clan, and he is also the Zuo Zongzheng of the Zongren Mansion. However, Zhu Zhen didn't seem to notice everyone's faces, but walked slowly in the direction of Qianqing Palace with an indifferent and calm expression, and the kings slowly calmed down when they saw Zhu Zhen's behavior.

The sun shines on the golden glazed tiles, reflecting the dazzling light, the cleaning in front of the Qianqing Palace is spotless, the corridor is full of guards, and there are twenty-one princes standing under the steps, they stand motionless, waiting for Zhu Yunwen's summons.

Zhu Yunwen didn't let them wait too long, only about half an hour, and asked Liu Zhenxuan and them to come in. After the kings entered the door, they saw Zhu Yunwen, who was sitting last week, and shouted long live in unison, and paid a big salute. Zhu Yunwen seemed to be in good spirits today, he looked at the princes, paused for a moment, and then said: "Everyone, Liu Zhen, show the princes." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" "Emperor Xie!"

After everyone sat down, Zhu Yunwen did not speak immediately, but glanced at everyone's expressions. He didn't speak, and naturally no one dared to speak. As the time passed, the princes gradually did not even dare to breathe, and gradually some had difficulty breathing, and some even beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads. After experiencing the rebellion of King Yan, no one dares to rely on the old and sell the old and despise this emperor, especially now in the Qianqing Palace, so he doesn't dare to make a mistake.

After half a pillar of incense, Zhu Yunwen stood up, walked down the steps, and walked to the center of the main hall, surrounded by the kings. He put his hands behind his back, looked at the top of the hall, and said leisurely: "Princes, you are the same as me, you are the blood and blood of Emperor Taizu, and you are all the royal family of my Ming Dynasty. ”

"However, not long after I ascended the throne, there was a royal rebellion, which took eight months to put down, killing and wounding hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, and spending more than 4 million stone on military expenses and food. In the end, the Yanshu people committed suicide, and Uncle Zhou Wang was deposed as a concubine, what do you think of this matter? ”

Yes! Everyone was in an uproar, they didn't expect Zhu Yunwen to talk about this matter, since the kings entered Beijing, they didn't dare to mention a word about this matter, lest they violate the emperor's taboo.

But at this moment, the emperor asked, but he couldn't help but answer, and Zhu Zhen, the king of Chu, hurriedly got up and knelt down: "Your Majesty, the Yanshu people and the Zhou Shu people conspired against the sky, and the crime cannot be punished. ”

"Yes, the ministers have no objection!" "No objection to the ministers!"

Zhu Yunwen looked at the people who were kneeling on the ground, but did not let them get up, but said to himself: "Uncle Ning, do you remember the battle of Mobei back then?" ”

"Remember, remember!" Zhu Quan nodded hurriedly, but cold sweat oozed from his forehead and back.

"In the battle of Mobei that year, the army continued to go out of the fortress, and finally the first emperor had an order to enable Uncle Yan Wang, who was suffering from hysteria and unwell, to lead the war in the north. Although three years have passed, it seems to have happened yesterday, right here, Yanshu people, he knelt in front of me, and said that he would swear allegiance to me, otherwise he would die with an arrow piercing his heart. ’”

I also believed him, and the disastrous defeat of Mobei led to the rapid deterioration of the first emperor's health, and he died soon after. After I ascended the throne, although many courtiers accused the vassal king of rebellion, but I did not deal with it, even for the Yanshu people, I did not mobilize his Yanshan three guards and soldiers, but he killed the imperial court's Du Si and Tongzhi, and the imperial court's political envoys and envoys also rebelled one after another, and I also heard that Zuobu political envoy Guo Zi was the first to surrender, and saw the Yanshu people actually shouting 'long live'. ”

"When I heard the news, I was shocked, why are there so many rebellious ministers and thieves? Why is my uncle and my courtiers rebelling? ”

"What can I do to prevent this from happening again? I am still young, not as long as your uncles, and I have seen a lot of things, can I ask the uncles to teach me, how can this kind of tragedy not happen again? ”

Listening to Zhu Yunwen's words with emotion, the princes are like falling into an ice cellar, what does the emperor mean? Do you want to catch us all? Afraid that there will be another Yan King among us? The kings smiled bitterly in their hearts, how can we have the ability of the fourth brother, ascend to the heights, and the responders gather, but even so, isn't it easy for the emperor to be destroyed? Your Majesty, what are you worried about?

The kings were stammering for a moment, not knowing what to say. Only Zhu Zhen, the king of Chu, seemed to have been prepared, and he kowtowed unhurriedly and said: "The emperor is a genius, wise and martial, and the holy light is illuminated, and he must have made a decision, and the ministers are dull, and everything depends on the emperor." ”

"Yes, the emperor is shengming, everything is up to the emperor!" "But it's up to the emperor to decide!" Everyone woke up like a dream and hurriedly spoke

Zhu Yunwen's eyebrows raised slightly, he laughed in a low voice, then turned around, slowly walked up the steps, sat down, and waved his hand: "Princes, get up, today is a homely chat, you don't have to be so restrained, come, get up, quickly, Liu Zhen, you go and help Uncle Chu Wang." ”

Seeing that the emperor no longer asked, the princes breathed a sigh of relief, sat down one by one, and took the opportunity to wipe the cold sweat from their foreheads.

Zhu Yunwen no longer dwelled on the topic just now, but asked Liu Zhen to set up a shelf in the main hall, hung the map of the Ming Dynasty, and after a while, let people hang the map of the Yuan Dynasty, of course, the map is quite simple compared to later generations, and can only look at a general situation.

The kings looked at the map, and then looked at each other with puzzled eyes, not understanding what the emperor was going to do.

Zhu Yunwen took a sip of tea, moistened his throat, then turned around, looked at the kings below, and said with a smile: "Princes, I want to ask you a question, why are we royal?" ”

The emperor's words are a little inexplicable, what exactly does he want to express? The kings can't stand it anymore, is the emperor going to play tricks on us? The crowd was a little angry, but they didn't dare to come out.

Zhu Bai, the king of Hunan is the twelfth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, twenty-nine years old this year, strong, brave, likes to read, likes to talk about the art of war, he heard Zhu Yunwen's words, immediately stood up, arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, please forgive the crime of disrespect, this matter is obvious, my Zhu royal family started from Emperor Gao, he was an old man who fought all his life, drove out the Yuan soldiers, saved the people from fire and water, restored the clothes of the Han family, since ancient times, the righteous person of the country, no more than Emperor Gao, so in the support of the ministers and the people, Emperor Gao ascended the throne as the emperor, we are the blood of Emperor Gao, We are naturally royalty. ”

"Well, that's a good point, what about everyone's opinions?" Zhu Yunwen applauded lightly.

After everyone was stunned for a moment, they all agreed with the opinion of the king of Xiang and praised the emperor.

Zhu Yunwen silently waited for everyone to praise him, and then said, "Yes, I also agree with what the princes said. Emperor Gao has made great contributions to China, so he ascended the throne as emperor, so what about us? As the blood and blood of Emperor Gao, should we inherit his legacy, continue to make contributions to the Ming Dynasty, and then forever be the Ming Imperial Family? ”

Make a difference? The kings suddenly felt a little harsh, and they were a little overwhelmed, and they couldn't help but raise their heads and look at Zhu Yunwen in unison.