Daming 1805

Chapter 584 A booklet spanning 200 years

On the morning of the thirteenth day of the first month of the sixth year of the Ming Dynasty.

Taiming Emperor Zhu Jianyan once again called Zhu Jingyuan to his palace:
"Tomorrow, I will escort your grandfather's coffin north to Shuntian Mansion.

“After I leave this time, I won’t be back for a short time.

"Now I officially hand over Emperor Guangwu's last chapter to you."

Zhu Jingyuan was obviously stunned, and then suddenly realized that Emperor Shizu Guangwu had indeed left a pamphlet.

"The last chapter of Emperor Shizu——"

Zhu Jianyan took his son into the basement of the palace.

The new palaces built in the last years of Ankang all have basements that can be connected to the underground comprehensive line traffic pipelines.

Both the upper and lower entrances have multiple complex blockade structures, and entering from the underground passage is more troublesome than entering from the palace.

There is also a small secret storage room and a fixed safe in the basement.

Zhu Jianyan took out a small box that had been passed down for more than a hundred years from his special safe.

Place it on the table in the middle of the basement and use the key you carry with you to unlock the box:

Zhu Jianyan opened the lid of the box, carefully took out a silk package, and said to Zhu Jingyuan with emotion:
"This is something that His Majesty Emperor Guangwu left to future generations. Only the emperors of the Ming Dynasty can read the legacy of Shizu.

“Actually, your grandfather passed it on to me a year after I ascended the throne.

“But I didn’t give it to you one year after you ascended the throne.

"First of all, it's because when I ascended the throne, I was already 45 years old, and I was already past the age where I was easily impulsive.

“Secondly, your grandfather and I feel that the knowledge and guidance left by Emperor Shizu are of little significance to you now.

"Thirdly, your grandfather and I both feel that you already have your own ideas and thoughts, and you can be regarded as a self-contained person.

“At that time, you were already concentrating on responding to the changes in the situation in the western continent and preparing for war.

"In order to prevent some of Emperor Shizu Guangwu's ideas from disrupting your thinking, we decided not to pass this booklet directly to you for the time being.

"Now that the war is finally over, I am going to Shuntian Mansion, and now I will officially pass it on to you.

"According to Emperor Shizu's will, this object is related to the stability of our Ming Dynasty, so only the Ming Emperor can view it.

“Do not reveal it to anyone, including your wives, concubines, and children.

“Originally, I had to seal it carefully and properly, and make a handwritten copy of it for daily reading.

"In order to avoid mistakes in transcription and memory, the manuscript cannot be passed on to future generations as the original, but the original can only be passed on as the original.

"When the heir takes the throne, burn his copy.

“No two posthumous writings shall remain in the hands of any two different persons.

“This is Emperor Shizu’s request, but I think you may have your own ideas.

"So it's up to you to decide how to deal with it in the future."

Zhu Jingyuan nodded slightly and agreed with some curiosity:
"My son understands."

Then under Zhu Jianyan's gaze, Zhu Jingyuan carefully opened the silk package, revealing four hand-bound books.

The book is yellowed overall and there is no writing on the cover.

With the mentality of admiring the relics of his predecessors, Zhu Jingyuan opened the first glance curiously and looked at the contents inside.

Then he couldn't help but frown quickly.

Zhu Jingyuan originally thought that he would see a diary of a senior time traveler, and he might see a lot of familiar words from his previous life.

As a result, all I saw was a copy of "Huangming's Ancestral Instructions - Shizu's New Chapter".

It seems that these things were indeed written by Emperor Guangwu Zhu Cixiang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty.

But the things he wrote, and the words and sentences in all the chapters, have no characteristics of modern people at all.

And in the opening part, he directly gave himself a "deification".

It is said that in the 17th year of Chongzhen, when the capital city was destroyed and the country was overthrown, he suddenly received a reminder from the ancestors of the Emperor of Heaven and gained knowledge from ancient and modern times.

Only then can we turn the tide.

Zhu Jianyan, who was opposite him, looked at his son's reaction and couldn't help but ask:
"Do you seem a little disappointed? Your grandpa also thinks you might be disappointed. He thinks you already know everything about this."

Zhu Jingyuan couldn't explain why he felt shocked:
"I can't say I'm disappointed. I don't have time to look at it carefully now. Maybe I will gain some insights later."

Zhu Jianyan didn't say much, and asked Zhu Jingyuan to put away the legacy of Shizu first, and then go to say goodbye to Emperor Zhenzong Huan of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Jingyuan followed Zhu Jianyan to the imperial station.

Zhu Jingyuan took the existing ministers in the court and the immediate family members of Zhu Zhongliang's grandchildren.

Watch Zhu Zhongliang's coffin being put into a special train carriage.

Watching his father get on the farewell train with a group of elderly retired ministers.

After the train left Yingtian New City, Zhu Jingyuan returned to Qianqing Palace.

Sitting in his office, he patiently read through the articles left by Emperor Shizu.

At the beginning, Zhu Jingyuan looked at the words written by Zhu Cixiang and suspected that Zhu Cixiang was Zhu Cixiang, but he only got some memories from modern times.

After reading part of it, I slowly began to feel that it might be a fusion of a modern person and Zhu Cixiang himself.

But after basically reading it, Zhu Jingyuan began to doubt again, whether this Zhu Cixiang was a modern person who traveled through time?

As a time traveler, it is reasonable for me to evaluate Zhu Cixiang's actions from the perspective of a modern person in my previous life.

For example, he wrote the legacy of the ancestors in the form of the ancestral instructions of the emperor Ming Dynasty in order to take care of the reading and comprehension abilities of future generations.

At the same time, he also deliberately concealed the fact that he was not from this world.

Even if this posthumous post is really made public now, people will not directly think that he may be a time traveler.

It is no different from those emperors in classical times who performed miracles for themselves.

But since there is no essential difference, how can I determine whether he is truly a "fellow countryman"?

What if the process of obtaining information he wrote about was not made up by himself but was real?
The knowledge of the time traveler can also be obtained in other ways...

In the end, this posthumous chapter seems to be of little use to myself and the current Ming Dynasty.

In Shizu's posthumous chapter, a large number of things are indeed predicted in a magical way.

Including the situation of major forces around the world and what may happen between them in the future.

Then there are the main resources, uses and distribution range and reserve levels around the world.

Finally, there are various technological upgrade ideas, inventions and creation ideas, etc.

But first, he himself has changed history on a massive scale.

Before he appeared, his predictions and actual historical development had already begun to deviate on a large scale.

He once again changed history into an even messier state.

The predictions he made about this world based on the history of another world nearly 200 years ago have no practical value now.

The various resource deposits mentioned by Emperor Shizu have now been basically explored.

Emperor Shizu's explanation of the details of the main mineral deposits was originally very vague.

It's probably just a reminder of what type of mine there is in a certain place. As for the scope and reserves of the mining area, it's a very general term like "appropriate amount", "large amount", and "massive amount".

Maybe Emperor Shizu didn't know the details in the first place, or maybe he deliberately didn't act like a time traveler.

For example, regarding the oil in the Dashi area, Emperor Shizu only said that there was oil there, and then made an empty statement that this resource was important.

On a technical level, the basic principles of steam engines and internal combustion engines are mentioned, but the design details are not fundamental.

Even the possible needs and scale of applications are vague.

There are also airplanes and aircraft carriers inside, but there are also no details, and they are at the level of ordinary people who don't care about military affairs.

This results in not much content in the posthumous chapter.

Zhu Jingyuan stopped to think from time to time, and it only took him one afternoon to finish reading it.

Then Zhu Jingyuan subconsciously wanted to burn this legacy.

The existence of the posthumous chapter itself is too sensitive. There are many secrets in it that are meaningless, but making them public may have a bad impact.

Regardless of whether Emperor Shizu Guangwu is a time traveler or not, he probably does not want the original version of Shizu's legacy to be circulated forever.

I just worry that future emperors will not be able to understand his intentions and experience, and will not be able to implement the right technology at the right time.

That's why I had to leave behind something that was obviously very sensitive.

But I quickly gave up the idea of ​​burning it directly.

Although the direct prediction of history in the posthumous chapter is meaningless, there is still a lot of sociological thinking and analysis in it.

I am lacking in this aspect. The key is that no one can discuss and think directly.

The relevant content in the posthumous chapter can be used as a reference.

There is no point in predicting the future and envisioning future technologies.

So Zhu Jingyuan planned to copy selectively and then destroy the original left by Emperor Shizu.

Before the electronicization of documents, the simplest way to "modify" non-popular documents, such as daily notes and various archives, was to destroy them.

Zhu Yuanzhang once wrote a book called "Imperial Records", which recorded the absurd things of his main sons and nephews.

This kind of thing was written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself and has not been widely circulated in the market.

In the end, the versions Zhu Jingyuan saw in his previous life and in this life were only about the affairs of King Qin, King Jin, King Zhou, King Chu, King Lu, King Jingjiang and others.

Beating cooks, enslaving prisoners, killing people at will, taking away people's fiancées, specially arranging people to go to Yangzhou to buy thin horses, etc.

But there is no content about Zhu Di at all.

It was impossible for Zhu Di to be an honest and good boy when he was young.

Apparently he deleted his content after Zhu Di ascended the throne.

In the same or earlier era, many conventional documents were "unique copies".

If you burn it directly, nothing may be lost, and future generations may not even know that this thing existed.

For example, the queens during the era of Prince Qin Shi, the queens after becoming the First Emperor, and the situation of Queen Qin's palace are not mentioned at all in the official history.

Later generations naturally knew nothing about the relevant situation.

Some people can only make things up if they want to make things up, and everyone knows that the relevant content is pure fabrication.

If someone really wants to "change history", it will be very troublesome to change the bad into good, or change one thing into another.

Because "reform" means there will be results, and the modified finished product must be left behind and let future generations see it.

Then future generations can look for clues and analyze the authenticity and credibility of the modified information by comparing it with other records from the same or similar eras.

If you must change it, try to change something private.

For example, many historians recorded the details of various conspiracies in history as if they were personally involved in the conspiracy.

Most of this stuff is probably made up, but no one knows the real details, so there's no way to correct it.

But don't tamper with what is already public knowledge.

Li Shimin could not erase his eldest brother Li Jiancheng, nor could he delete the Xuanwumen incident itself.

There is no way to change himself into the eldest son and the orthodox prince to directly succeed to the throne.

They could only use their status as emperor and family clan to expel Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji from their clan genealogy.

"The imperial edict removes Jiancheng and Yuanji's membership."

This important event of the patriarch expelling his brothers from the family tree will be recorded as a matter of course.

As for what happened at Xuanwumen at that time, the details are how Li Shimin arranged Xuanwumen's plan.Maybe no one can fully explain it.

But the occurrence of the Xuanwumen incident itself, as well as the final result of this incident, were clear at the time and in later generations.

Many confusing things in the early Ming Dynasty were actually similar.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he asked Xie Jin to rewrite the family tree for the royal family, which is the "Tianhuang Jade Certificate".

Xie Jin's first edition of the Tianhuang Jade Certificate stated that only Chengzu Zhu Di himself and Zhou Wang Zhu Ru were the legitimate sons of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma.

The eldest, Yiwen, Prince Zhu Biao, the second, Prince Qin, and the third, Prince Jin, were all bastards born to other concubines.

The idea was obviously that Zhu Biao, King Qin, and King Jin were all dead at that time, and Zhu Di's five brothers were the only ones left with himself and the fifth King of Zhou.

Anyway, dead people can't speak, so it's just a good time to compliment Zhu Di.

However, Zhu Di felt that Xie Jin's writing was too outrageous, and the generals and ministers of the early Ming Dynasty who were still alive around him were not blind.

Before his father became the emperor, his brother and mother did not live in the inner gardens of the palace, and they often dealt with the generals and advisers below.

My father also has a large group of godsons...

A group of old ministers and godbrothers all knew that their mother had given birth to five sons before she became queen.

Even if I leave aside my eldest brother's family, the descendants of my second brother and third brother are still alive, and they are all members of a large family.

Li Shimin couldn't even erase his father's three legitimate sons, his mother's three biological sons, and his third biological brother out of thin air.

So Zhu Di finally rejected the original version and asked Xie Jin to rewrite it as normal.

The normal record of Queen Ma having five sons and two daughters was restored.

At the same time, although people in later generations often questioned Zhu Di's origin, many people also questioned that Zhu Yunwen was not the legitimate son.

However, neither of the two parties involved, Zhu Di and Zhu Yunwen's uncle and nephew, have publicly questioned the other's origins.

At least no relevant records were left, and the remaining records were normal records.

As a loser, Zhu Yunwen left no doubt that Zhu Di was the paternity of Empress Ma, and there was a possibility that the record would be deleted.

But as the winner, Zhu Di did not leave any doubts about the identity of Zhu Yunwen's eldest grandson.

Even during the 600 years of the Ming and Qing dynasties, neither officials nor the public had ever questioned Zhu Yunwen's identity as his direct descendant.

Of course Zhu Di did not recognize Zhu Yunwen's emperor status and title, just like Li Shimin dismissed Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji's genealogy.

But Zhu Di did not deny the existence of Zhu Yunwen, nor did he deny that he was his eldest brother's eldest son.

If Zhu Xiongying had reached adulthood, he would of course be the eldest son, but since he died young, according to tradition, he would not be included in the family tree or the ancestral grave, and could only be buried alone.

Therefore, in the general understanding of Zhu Di's people at the time, Zhu Yunwen was indeed the eldest grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang Zheng'er Bajing.

On the contrary, later history enthusiasts on the Internet like to question the identity of Zhu Yunwen's direct grandson from different angles.

In addition, during the Ming Dynasty, the ancestral temples and mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty were state institutions and were actually semi-public.

There are usually dedicated people to maintain it, and the emperor will regularly bring hundreds of officials to worship.

The layout and facilities inside the Xiangdian Hall of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum can be considered semi-public at this time.

Officials at a certain level, as well as officials from relevant agencies, all know what is going on inside.

It's no secret.

During most of the Ming Dynasty, there was no secret history of Queen Ma's children.

Everyone knows the actual situation, and there is no point in making it up. Someone can verify it more easily.

But by the Qing Dynasty, the situation was completely reversed.

The ancestral temple tombs of the Ming Dynasty became sensitive facilities.

Officials with sufficiently high status would not take the initiative to investigate the Ming Dynasty ancestral temple to avoid suspicion of visiting the ancestral temple tomb of the previous dynasty.

Low-level officials and personnel have no chance to enter.

Although the Qing Dynasty claimed to protect Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, it was impossible to protect it sincerely if it was not its own ancestors. It was just to win over the people in Jiangnan.

In fact, Xiaoling soon became a vegetable garden for the surrounding people and a racecourse for the bannermen.

The ground facilities in Xiaoling Mausoleum were quickly destroyed in large areas, and the memorial tablets in Xiangdian Hall were naturally missing soon.

At this time, it is no longer possible to determine the placement of the internal tablets.

Therefore, at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, literati began to write down serious legends. Some people had seen the tablets of Zhu Yuanzhang and his concubines in the Xiaoling Mausoleum.

"Let me tell you, the one next to Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma is 'Concubine Li Shu'.

"This woman is the mother of Zhu Yuanzhang's three eldest sons.

"In other words, the crown prince Zhu Biao, the second eldest Prince Qin, and the third eldest Prince Jin were all born to her.

"On the other side is a woman named 'Concubine'. This woman is the biological mother of Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty.

"That Queen Ma actually has no son!"

This legend has influenced many people, including many folk historians and modern Ming history researchers after the Qing Dynasty.

They take it for granted that literati like Qian Qianyi should be relatively reliable, or at least have a certain degree of credibility.

It was not until later generations discovered the epitaph of Li Shufei's father that they learned that Li Shufei's father, Li Jie, was only 24 years older than Zhu Biao.

A year after Zhu Biao was born, Li Jie joined Zhu Yuanzhang.

Unless Li Jie gave birth to Concubine Li Shu at the age of 12, Concubine Li secretly followed Zhu Yuanzhang at the age of 12.

After Concubine Li Shu gave birth to Zhu Biao, she told her father Li Jie about the incident and asked his father to go to his son-in-law Zhu Yuanzhang.

This allows the actual situation to match the records of those literati's notes.

And this is obviously impossible.

At the same time, many literati reported that Empress Ma had no sons, but due to the limitations of the times, they ignored Empress Ma's two daughters.

Queen Ma's having a daughter shows that she is fertile. At the same time, everyone knows that Queen Ma and Zhu Yuanzhang have a very good relationship.

It was impossible for Zhu Yuanzhang to hastily designate the first son born by his 12-year-old concubine as his heir when his dearest wife was fertile.

As the crown prince, Zhu Biao shared the same team with the emperor's father. This extraordinary treatment also showed that he was the real eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma.

It is impossible for an adopted eldest son to receive such outrageous treatment.

As for the theory that Zhu Di was the posthumous son of Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty, or that he was born to a Korean woman, they come from the records of Mongolians and Koreans respectively.

But when Zhu Di was born, Zhu Yuanzhang was still hanging out in Jiangnan. At this time, the emperor and concubines of Yuan Dadu were very stable.

Eight years later, Xu Da finally conquered Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty. At this time, Zhu Di was already eight years old.

Or when Zhu Yuanzhang was running his territory in Jiangnan, he secretly sneaked into Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty to marry the concubine of Emperor Yuan Shun, and directly left a child behind.

Or when Xu Da conquered Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty, he captured a concubine of Emperor Yuan Shun with his eight-year-old son, and dedicated him to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had become the emperor, fell in love with this concubine, and by the way, he named his son King of Yan and guarded the capital of Yuan Dynasty.

Wild history may not be true, but it must be very wild.

Regarding Empress Ma's children, the origins of Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others, there are various unexplained loopholes in all folk histories and notes.

On the contrary, according to official history, Empress Ma and Zhu Yuanzhang had five sons and two daughters normally, so that all problems can be reasonably explained.

In this world, Yingtian Mansion has never fallen, and Zhu Yuanzhang's Xiaoling Mausoleum has always been well protected.

There is no rumor that Queen Ma has any children.

On the other hand, during the Renwu Dynasty, Emperor Shizu organized a coffin-closing and frank clarification of history.

It mainly recognized the status of Prince Yiwen, Emperor Jianwen and Emperor Jingtai.

First, restore the imperial title given to Prince Yiwen Zhu Biao by Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen, and Xingzongkang Emperor.

He also took out the temple name and posthumous title given to Zhu Yunwen by his previous life in Nanming, and honored him as Emperor Huizongrang, completing the seventeen-character posthumous title.

The emperor's intention was clear, saying that he was voluntarily giving up the throne to his more virtuous uncle Zhu Di, giving him a face-saving explanation.

Finally, the Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu was given the temple title of Daizong, which was also matched with the official seventeen-character posthumous title of the emperor.

The historical Daizong appeared in the Tang Dynasty. It should have been Tang Shizong, but Li Shimin's name was taboo, so it was changed to Daizong.

By the Ming Dynasty, although there was no need to avoid the word Shi, Shizong had already used it for Jiajing.

The status of Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu is indeed suitable for the word "generation".

Although Emperor Jingtai had a good reputation in later generations, and although Zhu Qizhen himself had a bad reputation, the later emperors of the Ming Dynasty were descendants of Zhu Qizhen.

Therefore, Zhu Cixiang could only think that Emperor Jingtai was just the acting emperor during Zhu Qi's hunting in the north.

Finally, the emperor was returned to the orthodox Zhu Qizhen.

Of course, whether it is Emperor Xingzongkang Zhu Biao, Emperor Huizongrang Zhu Yunwen, or Emperor Daizongjing Zhu Qiyu,
None of them entered the Ancestral Temple to enjoy the memorial ceremony. After all, they were not the direct ancestors of the current emperor.

At the same time, Emperor Shizu also gave them a formal evaluation.

After the death of Taizu, Chengzu directly succeeded to the throne, which was the best choice for the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Daizong also completed the task of guarding the capital very well.

Zhu Cixiang faced up to the fact that Zhu Yunwen and his son and Emperor Daizong actually existed, and gave them a coffin-breaking conclusion that was barely reasonable.

Let everyone talk about it without avoiding their presence.

Zhu Jingyuan recalled the history and took out the pamphlets he had written over the years, as well as more blank books he had prepared.

Start copying selectively according to your own plan.

Skip the various technical information and directions already in his booklet, skip Emperor Shizu's predictions and judgments about the future.

Preserves Emperor Shizu Guangwu’s social, economic, and historical thinking and analysis.

Zhu Jingyuan worked in the office for three consecutive days and completed the reorganization of Shizu's legacy.

Then I put these nearly 200-year-old books together with new books that record my own techniques, ideas, and thoughts.

I compared and looked through it again, and copied down everything that was necessary to keep.

Then when he was about to formally destroy the original body of Shizu's legacy, Zhu Jingyuan suddenly had another thought in his mind.

Zhu Jingyuan looked through the booklet he wrote again.

"It seems that the contents of my notes do not need to be left to future generations..."

Zhu Jingyuan himself is 36 years old. If nothing unexpected happens in the future, he can still be emperor for 24 years.

He should live for thirty to 40 years, maybe even 50 to 60 years.

Under his direct guidance, it should not be a problem for Ming to reproduce all the knowledge and technologies he knew in his previous life within 40 years.

In other words, my experience as a time traveler may only be of some use in my own lifetime.

Whether it is space exploration or biotechnology, whether it is semiconductors or mobile communications.

The memories and experiences related to it will be basically used up before your death, and there will be no way to save future generations.

There is no way for me to make a relatively reasonable prediction about the more distant future.

The current situation of the Ming Dynasty is completely different from that of any previous period in human history.

We have now entered an unprecedented new historical period.

By the time he dies, the development of the entire Ming Dynasty and even the world should far exceed the situation before he traveled through his previous life.

What I can leave behind should only be some thoughts and ideas, and they may not necessarily be correct.

So do the pamphlets I am writing now have any important effect on Ming Dynasty?
It can only be used as a note to avoid forgetting.

　Although I feel that the plot of this book should be over, every day when I think about it, I always find some details that I want to add, or I find that I haven’t finished the things I want to finish.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)