The twenty-fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, summer and May, Beijing Nanjing, Qianqing Palace.

At midnight, it was raining lightly outside the window, and an old man with white hair was reviewing the recitals in the main hall, when suddenly there was a thunderclap, and a lightning bolt illuminated the entire palace, and there seemed to be some exclamations from far and near, and then the rain became heavier and heavier, and the wind blew in along the doors and windows, and the lights in the hall flickered and dimmed. The old man raised his head, put down his pen, rubbed his eyes with his hands, and asked, "Changfu, what time is it?" ”

"Your Majesty, it's three o'clock now, and you should sleep in peace." A small eunuch standing beside him said.

The old man stood up and stretched his waist, it could be seen that this was a tall old man, his face was full of tiredness, but anyone who looked at it could not ignore his eyes, his eyes were not very big, but his eyes were sharp, which were full of the vicissitudes of time and the wisdom of the world, although he looked old and tired, but inadvertently revealed the momentum of controlling everything. He is the master of the empire, the founder of the Ming Empire, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor!

Zhu Yuanzhang is sixty-five years old, he walked to the window, "squeak", opened the window, looked at the royal courtyard at night, couldn't help sighing, looked up at the sky, the hidden pain in his heart suddenly welled up in his heart, tears couldn't stop flowing from the corners of his eyes, just last month, he lost the best heir of the empire, the crown prince Zhu Biao whom he carefully cultivated. In the hazy tears, he seemed to see the scene of the last visit to his son:

The crown prince was already terminally ill and had difficulty getting out of bed, Yun Wei took care of him day and night for two years, and he was also haggard, but when the crown prince saw him coming, he forced Yun Wei to help him up, and bowed to his father on the bed:

"Father, the son is not filial, he has failed his father's teachings for many years, and he can no longer serve his father, may his father live a long life, and may the Ming Dynasty and the people be safe....."

After speaking, Zhu Biao supported him three times and nine knocks, and Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but rush up to support his son, holding his skinny body, and couldn't help but burst into tears........

That night, Zhu Biao died.......

Suddenly, a cool breeze blew, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but shiver, and Changfu next to him hurriedly came over to support Zhu Yuanzhang: "Your Majesty, please take care of the dragon body." After Changfu closed the window, he helped Zhu Yuanzhang to sit down on the dragon collapse, wanting to say something, but he didn't dare to say it, so he couldn't help but turn sideways and secretly wiped his tears.

"What's wrong, Changfu?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"Your Majesty, in recent times, Your Majesty's dragon body has been getting worse and worse, and you still review the chapters every day, how can you go on like this! The villain feels uncomfortable! ”

"It's okay, Changfu, I've been thinking about the prince lately, and I'll be fine after a while, by the way, how about Yun Wei? Woke up? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the little prince has been in a coma for two days, and he hasn't woken up yet, and the diagnosis and treatment of the imperial physician is 'The little prince is overly sad, plus he doesn't want to eat and drink, and his body is weak, this time fainting is not a bad thing, and when he wakes up, maybe his body will be better.'" ”

"Well, I know that the imperial doctor has reported it, but Yun Wei has not woken up for a long time, I am really worried."

If it were usual, Zhu Yuanzhang would probably be the same as Queen Ma and the crown prince when they were sick, if Yun Wei could not be cured, then the doctors, palace maids, and eunuchs who served Yun Wei would all be executed, but this time, the old man seemed to be a little messed up, the heir of the empire died suddenly and early, and he was already sixty-five years old, is the Ming Dynasty going to end?

At night, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't fall asleep tossing and turning on the dragon collapse, he remembered the years when the horses were in a hurry, those heroic generals, they were invincible under their own leadership, and finally cut off the heroes, drove out the Yuan soldiers, and established the Ming Dynasty. It has been almost 40 years since he defected to Guo Zixing. Now, the Ming Dynasty has been established for twenty-five years, as a farmer's son, how much he hopes to be able to pass on his dynasty forever, his own blood can be immortalized as a royal noble, for which he deliberately set the grade of the prince and the county king very high, and the previous dynasties are different, lest others be disrespectful to their children and grandchildren. Originally, everything was going well, four years ago, Lan Yu broke the Yuan army in the fishing sea, although the Yuan heir Jun escaped, but the weakened Yuan Court was no longer able to control the desert, and the internal cannibalism came and went, which was no longer a problem, and the biggest external trouble of the empire had been eliminated. Feng Sheng has not led troops for a long time and is more deferential. Fu Youde came from a humble background, from a general to a general, his prestige was not enough, and he did not lead troops. In addition to Lan Yu, by the way, Lan Yu, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but think of Lan Yu's figure, this long-bodied red-faced man, is his most relied on general Chang Yuchun's wife and brother, brave and good at fighting, is currently the highest military general, since he succeeded Feng Sheng as a general, it has been five years, as Chang Yuchun's wife and brother, it is easy to gain the favor of his old department and generals, of course, he himself is also very capable, Hongwu 21 years has achieved a great victory in fishing, and his military exploits are comparable to Han Zhiwei Qing and Huo Quai. But his shortcomings are also obvious, he is too high-flying and domineering, there is no one in his eyes, and he wantonly destroys the law of the imperial court: when the Northern Expedition returned to the division, the Xifeng Pass was detained at night, and the border pass could not be opened and closed at night according to the law, and Lan Yu actually entered the pass with his troops; Once seized the Dongchang Mintian, the imperial history inquired, and even expelled the imperial history. As an immediate emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang knows too well the likes and dislikes of the men in the army, most of them are simple and bloody, but they are also prone to impulsive adventures, due to habitual reasons, they will obey their prestige and capable superiors, if a superior's prestige is too high, it may pose a threat to the imperial power. Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang still has the confidence to control the army, but this is under his sober conditions, and now his health is getting worse and worse, what if he is sick, or even, dead? Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly shuddered, originally he was not worried about this problem, but on this rainy night, he suddenly became worried, Zhu Biao's crown prince and concubine are the daughter of Chang Yuchun, so Lan Yu is also loyal to Zhu Biao, but now, Zhu Biao is dead, no matter who the new prince is, Lan Yu will not be so loyal, and even unwilling to give up the military power in his hands, it will cause a big disaster. It seems that he still has to hold on, not only to solve the problem of the heir, but also to clear the obstacles to the succession, but the specific methods and measures have not been thought of yet, fortunately, everything is still in time. Let's go see Yun Wei tomorrow, thinking about it, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but fall asleep......