My father, Zhu Di, was granted a second life by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Chapter 141 The Situation Reversed

In the Battle of Gaocheng, Zhu Di personally led his elite troops to charge forward. The old emperor was deeply shocked upon hearing this and remained silent for a long time.

From the day he raised his army, Zhu Di had no way out. He either won or he died. It wasn't just him who died, but his whole family.

Once he secures his throne, Zhu Yunwen will not let the Prince of Yan off the hook, nor will he let anyone in the Prince of Yan's residence go unpunished.

Just like Zhu Gaoxi's current situation.

"Your dad has had a tough time too."

Before he knew it, tears were streaming down his face. The old emperor wiped away his tears, grabbed Zhu Gaoxi's chubby little hand and held it tightly, tears streaming down his face.

Perhaps the old emperor never imagined how desperately his fourth son, Zhu Di, fought for his life to survive.

Choosing his grandson as his heir, only to plunge his son into dire straits, was something he never imagined.

He had always thought that his family could live in harmony, be happy and united, and work together to prolong the Ming Dynasty's reign.

Historically, Emperor Jianwen acted so well that he successfully gained Zhu Yuanzhang's trust, leading Zhu Yuanzhang to mistakenly believe that he would treat his uncle well.

The Crown Prince vowed to kill Zhu Gaoxi, but Zhu Gaoxi was able to tolerate the life of Zhu Yunwen.

This is the core meaning that Zhu Gaoxi tried his best to express.

Zhu Gaoxi disliked Zhu Yunwen, even loathed him, but that didn't stop him from forgetting Zhu Yunwen forever, letting him live quietly in some corner, working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

If there had been no struggle for the throne, and if they hadn't both been grandsons of the old emperor, Zhu Gaoxi would have preferred never to have met Zhu Yunwen, and would have been even less willing to waste time and energy getting entangled with him.

Zhu Yunwen is not worth it.

He doesn't need to prove that he's better than Zhu Yunwen.

Because that's the truth.

In terms of kindness alone, Zhu Yunwen will never be able to compare.

Everything Zhu Yunwen did was aimed at tightly gripping power, and he took violence and wanton harm for granted.

When Fang Xiaoru, Huang Zicheng, and Qi Tai were discussing and strategizing, they never considered how many innocent people would die tragically in the flames of war once it started.

They merely followed the map mechanically, copying the early Han dynasty, reducing the power of the vassal states for the sake of reducing their power, without proposing any mature governance or checks and balances strategies.

They were blatantly malicious towards the Prince of Yan's residence.

The reason was simply that the Prince of Yan's power was too great, but no one ever considered where the Prince of Yan's influence came from.

It was accumulated slowly through the daily struggle against the enemy.

The Prince of Yan has guarded the border for many years and has achieved great military exploits, yet they believe that the Prince of Yan deserves to die. Where is justice?!

Their ideal was to serve the emperor and govern the people, but they never realized that the people they spoke of were also living, breathing human beings, no different from themselves.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxi's agitated state, the old emperor approached him worriedly and asked, "What's wrong, Xi'er? What are you thinking about?"

"Grandfather, Father fought valiantly for many years, resisting foreign enemies. On what basis did Fang Xiaoru, Huang Zicheng, and Qi Tai incite Emperor Jianwen to regard Father as a criminal?" Zhu Gaoxi asked indignantly. "Is it simply because Father was more capable and had more military achievements?"

"It's their fault," the old emperor sighed.

He didn't talk about the art of rulership.

Emperor Jianwen went too far; he didn't just reduce the power of the princes, he wanted them dead.

The old emperor had no way to defend him.

Zhu Gaoxi drank a glass of milk to calm himself down a bit before continuing his story.

The envoy sent by Emperor Jianwen to the Yan army camp was Xue Yan, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

According to the established plan, Xue Yan not only brought the edict drafted by Fang Xiaoru, but also thousands of leaflets, which he distributed in the Yan army camp.

However, Xue Yan was timid, so he hid all the leaflets on the way and pretended nothing had happened when he arrived at his destination.

Fang Xiaoru was a man of great literary talent, but the imperial edict was written in a careless and irreverent manner.

Xue Yan was afraid of angering the Prince of Yan, but Zhu Di didn't take it seriously. It was just a verbal dispute, and there was no need to take it too seriously.

"Your Highness, at dawn you will lay down your armor, visit the Xiaoling Mausoleum, and return with your troops in the evening," Xue Yan conveyed the imperial decree to Zhu Di with trepidation.

Zhu Di could not possibly agree to such a demanding request.

"Oh dear, it's not enough to just give three feet."

Zhu Di angrily rebuked him, saying, "You can't even fool a three-foot-tall child with such words."

Xue Yan was filled with fear and unease, and had no words to reply.

When the Prince of Yan's attendants saw this, they drew their swords to strike, but were stopped by Zhu Di.

Xue Yan failed to complete his mission and returned to the capital to truthfully recount what he had seen and heard. He described the Yan soldiers as being full of energy, fighting bravely, and high-spirited. This drew criticism from Fang Xiaoru, who then demoted him to Guangxi.

Not long after Xue Yan left, Sheng Yong, Ping An, and Wu Jie sent troops to harass the Yan army's supply lines.

Zhu Di sent Commander Wu Sheng to the capital with a letter, which bluntly pointed out that Sheng Yong and others were unwilling to cease hostilities and that there must be someone in charge.

At Fang Xiaoru's urging, Emperor Jianwen ordered Wu Sheng to be arrested and imprisoned.

When peace talks broke down, Zhu Di decided to retaliate in kind by sending troops to attack Shengyong's supply route.

Li Yuan led 6,000 elite soldiers, donned the armor of the imperial army, and set fire to Sheng Yong's grain transport ships, turning millions of bushels of grain into ashes.

When the news arrived, the capital was thrown into turmoil.

Texas is facing a food shortage and is in dire straits.

For about six months thereafter, troops from Liaodong and the northern fortresses launched attacks one after another, keeping the Yan army occupied and unable to look south.

Zhu Di had no choice but to divide his forces to deal with them.

The imperial army repeatedly sent troops to attack the Yan army's supply lines in places such as Zhangde and Weijianzhai.

Zhu Di was furious and sent elite troops to launch a fierce attack on Zhangde.

Seeing that he could not hold out any longer, Zhao Qing, the garrison commander of Zhangde, hurriedly sent someone to see Zhu Di, saying, "When Your Highness arrived in the capital, you only sent me a two-finger invitation, and I dared not refuse. I dare not do so now."

Zhao Qing's statement is quite intriguing.

As long as Zhu Di ascends the throne in the capital, Zhao Qing would not dare to disobey any imperial decree.

The implication is that Zhao Qing is loyal to the emperor, but doesn't care who the emperor is.

Even if Zhu Di were to sit on the dragon throne, Zhao Qing would still remain loyal.

Perhaps Zhao Qing's mindset represented the true thoughts of many military generals at that time.

Zhu Di naturally did not want to be enemies with such generals, so he turned his attention to attacking Weijian Village.

Emperor Jianwen then ordered Ping An to lead troops from Liaodong to attack Beiping while the city was vulnerable, forcing Zhu Di to send troops back to defend it.

Under Fang Zhao's leadership, the Shanxi troops entered Zijingguang and built a cluster of fortified villages in the Emei Mountains. With Xishui Village as the leader, they took advantage of the terrain to launch frequent attacks, causing Zhu Di a great deal of trouble. He had to spend a lot of troops to deal with them and it took two months to break through Xishui Village.

In November of the third year of the Jianwen reign, the leader of the Mongol Tatar tribe sent an envoy to the Prince of Yan, expressing his willingness to send troops to help contain the Liaodong army.

The Liaodong troops lacked good horses and were no match for the Tatars.

From then on, Zhu Di no longer needed to worry about Liaodong troops advancing on Beiping and threatening his rear.

Zhu Di countered all of Emperor Jianwen's and his team's various moves.

Being at a disadvantage on the battlefield, Fang Xiaoru devised another clever plan for Emperor Jianwen: to sow discord between the Prince of Yan and his heir.

Zhu Gaochi had long coveted the position of heir apparent and often framed his elder brother in front of Zhu Di, saying that Zhu Gaochi was loyal to the court and had a close relationship with Zhu Yunwen.

Fang Xiaoru quickly noticed and exploited the conflict between the eldest and second sons of the Prince of Yan.

Emperor Jianwen sent someone to Beiping with a letter to Zhu Gaochi, promising to bestow upon Zhu Gaochi the title of Prince of Yan, on the condition that he serve the court.

So, will Zhu Gaochi betray us?

As soon as Emperor Jianwen's envoy arrived in Beiping, Huang Yan, a eunuch who had received favors from Zhu Gaochi, quickly relayed the news to Zhu Di, who was fighting in Hebei and Shandong.